BY MD PHOLO Integrating Explicit Problem- Solving Teaching Into ActiveMath

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…