PRE2019 1 Group3

Artificial intelligence in Education

Group Members

Name	Study	Student ID
Ruben Haakman	Electrical Engineering	0993994
Tom Verberk	Software Science	1016472
Peter Visser	Applied Physics	0877628

Planning

Every week we will have 2 meetings, in between the meetings we will work on individual tasks, results of the individual tasks will be examined in the meetings, the tasks dicussed are the time when the tasks has to be done.

Week	Monday (morning)	Thursday (afternoon)
1	ALL : choose topic	ALL : literary research problem definition make the planning define structure of the report
2	Ruben : introduction/problem statement All : wiki page All : state of the art Peter : users/stakeholders Tom: Approach, milestones and deliverables, Who’s doing what

Who is doing what

Research about “didactiek” ~ Ruben, Peter
Build application ~ Tom
Build database. ~ Tom
Ask high school teachers stuff ~ Ruben, Peter
Test application. ~ All

Introduction

There has been a big increase of technology in education; smart boards, laptops, tablets and online learning systems are now commonly used in classrooms. Artificial intelligence (AI) is however still new and little used. AI can generate exercises based on individual student’s particular needs to give each student personalized questions. This can help students learn faster and keep them motivated. It also reduces the workload for teachers.

Problem Statement

Currently a teacher makes a set of exercises which is the same for all students. In this way the level of the student is not taken into account resulting in questions which are too simple or too difficult. Using AI it is possible to give a student a personal learning program and give exercises that match the level of the student.

State of the art

Title: Math Aversion (State of the Art) Link: https://ieeexplore-ieee-org.dianus.libr.tue.nl/document/6210554 Relevance: incorporate conceptual thinking and illustrations to make students understand mathematical ideas

Title: The Math Wars Link: https://journals-sagepub-com.dianus.libr.tue.nl/doi/pdf/10.1177/0895904803260042 Relevance: The article provides an overview of the didactic discussion on math in the past century, as well as the latest controversy, the math war (maybe part of a larger culture war?). It boils down to a fervent discussion between ‘traditionalists’ and ‘modernists’, and their attempts to influence governmental educational policies on math (such as ‘the Standards’ and ‘the Framework’). The text is focussed on the US, but this is likely a trend in the West in general. It is useful to have some knowledge about these philosophical-didactic discussions, although in our limited time we should focus on how to implement the suggested methods of the two groups, not so much on the arguments.

Title: Mathematics is about the world - R.E. Knapp Link: (book) Relevance: A book about the role of mathematics in our lives, and therefore useful for thinking about how to teach the subject. The book claims that mathematics is abstract, but nevertheless is about the world around us, which we try to understand. That discovering quantitative relationships suits our needs for indirect measurement(s), such as the ‘tool’ of establishing geometric relationships. Trying to concretize the notion - that math is a powerful tool for humans - in our program will help to motivate students to engage with the topic, and help them understand new ‘tools’.

Title: Preparation, practice, and performance: An empirical examination of the impact of Standards-based Instruction on secondary students’ math and science achievement Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.7227/RIE.81.5 Relevance: One set of studies on the impact of ‘SBI’ (standards-based instruction) methods, such as: student self-assessment, inquiry-based activities, group-based projects, hands-on experiences, use of computer technologies, and the use of calculators. ‘Non-SBI practices’: teacher lecture, individual student drill and practice worksheets, and computer drill and practice programmes, etc.

overview of (SBI) student-centred methods: - using manipulatives or hands-on materials, such as styrofoam balls and toothpicks for building molecular models, dominoes, base ten blocks, tangrams, spinners, rulers, fraction bars, algebra tiles, coins, and geometric solids. - incorporating inquiry, discovery, and problem-solving approaches, such as making binoculars out of recycled materials, using scenarios from nature and everyday life events for groups of students to research and investigate using math and science concepts - applying math and science concepts to real-world contexts, such as banking, energy concerns, environmental issues, and timelines; - connecting mathematics and science preparation skills to specific careers and occupations - using calculators and technologies for capturing and analysing original data from original math and science experiments - communicating math and science concepts, through journal writing, small-group discussions, and laboratory/technical reporting of experiments and results.

Results: - SBI practices that were found to be significant contributors to students’ math achievement include the use of manipulatives, self-assessment, co-operative group projects, and computer technology. - SBI practices that were found to be significant contributors to students’ science achievement include the use of inquiry, self-assessment, co-operative group projects, and computer technology. - Virtually none of the observed non-SBI practices was found to be a significant contributor to student math or science achievement by gender or ethnic groupings.

Useful, because looking at effective methods is one way to know which side is right in the math war, or at least what methods we can use in our program. Our program might in a (superficial?) way fit into SBI, although that will ultimately depend on the type of exercises and methods we will include.

Title: Didactic material confronted with the concept of mathematical literacy Link: https://link-springer-com.dianus.libr.tue.nl/content/pdf/10.1023%2FB%3AEDUC.0000017693.32454.01.pdf Relevance: this essay is critical of the ‘highly technocratic’ vision ‘from the top’ that aims to let experts device didactic materials to be used by teachers and students, whilst ignoring: - why is math taught and what is the role of didactic material?, - how and why do students actually use such materials?, - In which ways do didactic materials shape the teachers’ activities? - What does it mean that didactic material is never adopted but always adapted?

Therefore the author claims it is more useful to focus on ‘valuable mathematical activities’ instead of ‘innovative didactic materials’.

Furthermore, the author claims that “mathematical literacy” should be the leitmotiv for the teaching and learning of mathematics (up to secondary school). Mathematical literacy conceives “the relationship between mathematics, the surrounding culture, and the curriculum”. He mentions how this should influence didactic materials, and what these materials should look like. He critiques the ‘optimism’ and ‘exclusivity’ approaches of teaching math,and supports the ‘inclusivity’ approach, which presents math as ‘a method to understand the social and economic world we live in. This strategy considers mathematical activity as potentially critical, political, loaded with values, and informative’ and “The cognitive style of daily routine is of high relevance within these mathematical activities, since it is a fundamental aim of the strategy to empower common sense. It is intended to develop the attitude of daily life towards an attitude of critical consciousness.”.

Useful because it really focuses on the users of didactic material (like our program!), an approach we can use to increase the value students (and teachers) find in our program. We should consider/confirm what mathematical literacy is, and whether it is the right standard to determine what is a valuable mathematical activity. The ‘inclusivity’ approach seems very interesting. However, the author seems very interesting in using math to discuss politics, if not to politicize (young) students, this seems a bad idea.

Title: Geometrical analogies in mathematics lessons Link: https://academic-oup-com.dianus.libr.tue.nl/teamat/article/26/4/201/1664642 Relevance: A summary of possibilities of mathematics lessons regarding the use of analogies in teaching geometry for different age groups. Useful because we might apply this in the exercises to teach users geometry.

Title: “Open Learner Models: Research Questions” Special Issue of the IJAIED Link: https://content-iospress-com.dianus.libr.tue.nl/download/international-journal-of-artificial-intelligence-in-education/jai17-2-01?id=international-journal-of-artificial-intelligence-in-education%2Fjai17-2-01 Relevance: good summary of “learner models” and discussion of relevant aspects , very detailed, but good to use in a brainstorm for concretising the project.

Title: Intelligent Agent-Based e-Learning System for Adaptive Learning Link: https://www-igi-global-com.dianus.libr.tue.nl/gateway/article/full-text-pdf/58052 Relevance: Adaptive learning approach: support learners to achieve the intended learning outcomes through a personalized way.

The main idea: to personalize the learning content in a way that can cope with individual differences in aptitude. NOT: personalizing the presentation style of the learning materials

model: - Aptitude-Treatment Interaction theory (ATI): there is a strong bond between the effectiveness of an instructional strategy (i.e. treatment) and the aptitude level of students -- aptitude: the capability to learn in a specific area either because of having talent or having prior knowledge in this area - Biggs’ Constructive Alignment Model: (use to operationalize ATI): an effective curriculum depends on adequately describing the educational goals desired. Biggs views curriculum as a teaching system, ultimate goal of system is to guide students towards the desired educational goals. He advocates the alignment of individual components in the system like teaching and learning activities (TLAs) and assessment tasks (ATs). It is a hierarchical framework. -- inherits the central idea of constructivism that education is a way to train students to be a self-learner > aim: improving students’ learning outcomes through enhancing their intrinsic motivation

“Students with lower cognitive skill require highly structured instructional environments than students with higher cognitive skills (Snow, 1989).”

Title: Personalized Adaptive Learner Model in E-Learning System Using FCM and Fuzzy Inference System Link: https://link-springer-com.dianus.libr.tue.nl/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs40815-017-0309-y.pdf Relevance: Some new dimensions of adaptivity are discussed here, like automatic and dynamic detection of learning styles. This is more precise and quicker than previous ones. It is a literature-based approach in which a personalized adaptive learner model (PALM) was constructed. This proposed learner model mines learner’s navigational accesses data and finds learner’s behavioural patterns which individualize each learner and provide personalization according to their learning styles in the learning process. Fuzzy cognitive maps and fuzzy inference system, soft computing techniques, were introduced to implement PALM. Result shows that personalized adaptive e-learning system is better and promising than the non-adaptive in terms of benefits to the learners and improvement in overall learning process. Thus, providing adaptivity as per learner’s needs is an important factor for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire learning process.

Title: Elo-based learner modeling for the adaptive practice of facts Link: https://link-springer-com.dianus.libr.tue.nl/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11257-016-9185-7.pdf Relevance: - computerized adaptive system for practicing factual knowledge. - widely varying degrees of prior knowledge. - modular approach: 1. an estimation of prior knowledge, 2. an estimation of current knowledge, and 3. the construction of questions. - detailed discussion of learner models for both estimation steps (1 & 2), -- a novel use of the Elo rating system for learner modeling. --- results, and variations in model and effectiveness

very useful, only change the topic

Approach/milestones/deliverables

Our approach will look the following. We will start with some up front research, we will make some sort about “didactiek” and how to apply this in our webpage we want to create. While doing research about these topics we will start working on our webpage. We are planning to build some sort of web page or program. This artifact will have some sort of artificial intelligence which keeps track of the level of skill of the student and gives exercises matching the skill level of the student. After being done with the research about “didactiek”. We will lay the proposal of our artifact in front of several high school teachers. We want to have their input, as the artifact is build for there purpose. We then imply the given advise in our artifact. Lastly we plan to test our improved application for use, we will go to the same (or other) high school teachers and ask if we can test them in their classes. We then come up with a conclusion and finish the research.

Our milestones will be the finish of our research, the alpha version of our application, then the comments of the teachers, then the beta version of our application. The findings of the test subject and finally the final version.

Our deliverables will be a research about the current AI in education, the findings we got from talking to teachers, the test results found when testing on students and finally our artifact.