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Automatic Generation of Problems and Explanations for an Intelligent Algebra Tutor

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Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2019)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 11625))

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Abstract

Intelligent tutors that emulate one-on-one tutoring with a human have been shown to effectively support student learning, but these systems are often challenging to build. Most methods for implementing tutors focus on generating intelligent explanations, rather than generating practice problems and problem progressions. In this work, we explore the possibility of using a single model of a learning domain to support the generation of both practice problems and intelligent explanations. In the domain of algebra, we show how problem generation can be supported by modeling if-then production rules in the logic programming language answer set programming. We also show how this model can be authored such that explanations can be generated directly from the rules, facilitating both worked examples and real-time feedback during independent problem-solving. We evaluate this approach through a proof-of-concept implementation and two formative user studies, showing that our generated content is of appropriate quality. We believe this approach to modeling learning domains has many exciting advantages.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Eleanor O’Rourke

  2. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Eric Butler, Armando Díaz Tolentino & Zoran Popović

Authors
  1. Eleanor O’Rourke
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  2. Eric Butler
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  3. Armando Díaz Tolentino
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  4. Zoran Popović
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eleanor O’Rourke .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Seiji Isotani

  2. University of Malaga, Málaga, Spain

    Eva Millán

  3. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Amy Ogan

  4. DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Peter Hastings

  5. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Bruce McLaren

  6. University College London, London, UK

    Rose Luckin

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O’Rourke, E., Butler, E., Díaz Tolentino, A., Popović, Z. (2019). Automatic Generation of Problems and Explanations for an Intelligent Algebra Tutor. In: Isotani, S., Millán, E., Ogan, A., Hastings, P., McLaren, B., Luckin, R. (eds) Artificial Intelligence in Education. AIED 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11625. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23204-7_32

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23204-7_32

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-23203-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-23204-7

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