To Tutor or Not to Tutor: That is the Question
Leena Razzaq; Neil Heffernan
Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) -- 2009
Keywords
Intelligent tutoring system; Tutored problem solving; Scaffolding; Feedback; Time on task
Research Brief
This study compared tutored problem solving, or working through problems step-by step, with worked solutions while controlling for time on task. Using a counterbalanced design to control for order effects, the authors randomly assigned 88 8th students to two ASSISTments assignments, Symbolization and Slope & Intercept, with either tutored problem solving (see Figure 1) or worked solutions (see Figure 2) provided as feedback, as shown in Table 1. The authors hypothesized that highly proficient students would benefit more from worked examples while less proficient students would benefit more from tutored problem solving.
Of 83 students who completed both assignments, normalized gain scores from pre- to post-test showed significant learning gains in both assignments, p < 0.01. Students completed significantly more problems with worked solutions in both problem sets. A median split on prior MCAS performance was then used to establish groups of high and low proficiency students. Repeated measures analyses revealed an interaction effect: when controlling for time on task, proficient students exhibited significantly more learning from worked solutions than tutored problem solving while less proficient students exhibited slightly more learning from tutored problem solving. Less proficient students also spent significantly less time on problems with worked solution feedback.
Figure 1. A problem with worked solution feedback shown. Click on the image to enlarge
Figure 2. A problem with tutored problem solving feedback shown. Click on the image to enlarge
Razzaq, L. & Heffernan, N. (2009). To Tutor or Not to Tutor: That is the Question. In Dimitrova, Mizoguchi, du Boulay & Graesser (Eds.) Proceedings of the 2009 Artificial Intelligence in Education Conference. IOS Press. 457-464.
Acknowledgements
US DOE; NSF; ONR; Spencer Foundation; NSF GK-12 Fellowship
Study Materials
Follow the links below to experience each piece of the study from a student's perspective:
>> Slope & Intercept (Solutions)
The full paper and additional content are available below:
>> Paper
Paper Citation