Transcript Integrating Explicit Problem-Solving Teaching Into ActiveMath

Integrating Explicit ProblemSolving Teaching Into
ActiveMath
BY MD PHOLO
Presentation Organization
 Background
 Problem statement
 Literature Review
 Proposed methodology
 Conclusion
Background
 World has changed into a knowledge- and
technology-based society.
  higher-level skills required from workers.
 Problem-solving = one of needed skills.
 As a consequence, education is being reformed to
addresses the need for high-level problem-solving
skills.
Problem
 students at the Tshwane University of Technology
struggle with programming.
Research Question
 “How to use an Intelligent Tutoring System to help
TUT students improve their problem-solving skills?”
Literature review
Tutoring
 One-to-one human tutoring: more effective than
other educational methods



greater motivation
faster learning
better understanding
 Reasons:
 active knowledge acquisition
 tailored to tutee
 Instantaneous feedback
Literature review (continued)
E-tutoring
 = form of tutoring that happens through the
Internet.
 Requires an “e-tutor”
 Ideally, one tutor for one tutee,

HARDLY FEASIBLE.
 Solution: completely virtual tutor
Literature review (continued)
Intelligent Tutoring Systems
 = software systems that mimic human tutors
 made of four modules
Literature review (continued)
ActiveMath
 an open source, web-based ITS
 Pedagogical rules + instructional content entered in
system by teacher for example.
 Content is then presented to learners based on
pedagogical rules + student’s profile and abilities.
Proposed Methodology
Grounded Theory
 Induces theory from data
 Data gathering

Semi-structured/Structured interviews
 Open coding
 identifying, naming, categorizing and describing phenomena
found in text
 Axial coding
 relating codes
 Selective Coding
 choosing one core category
Proposed Methodology (continued)
Implementation
 Incorporate explicit teaching and assessment of
problem-solving skills in ITS


Based on theory from GT
Using fuzzy logic
Benefits
 Help TUT students achieve higher pass rates in
programming subjects
 Provide problem-solving skills that are critical to
today’s information-led world.
Questions?
Hopefully not… 