SBIR Phase I: Avatar-guided system to develop mastery in mathematical problem solving.

SBIR 第一阶段：阿凡达引导系统，培养数学问题解决能力。

• 批准号: 1520367
• 负责人: ATTILA MEDL
• 金额: $ 10.71万
• 依托单位: Mgenuity Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-07-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1520367&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Avatar; guided; system

This SBIR Phase I project will develop a prototype system that teaches children how to solve seemingly hopeless mathematical problems. Problems differ from exercises in that it is not immediately clear how to approach them. They require hard thinking, not complicated calculations. For example, the system's intelligent avatar will help students discover a method to calculate the Earth-Moon distance with nothing more than basic geometry and a lot of thinking and experimentation. Problems are presented by the avatar in 2D or in captivating 3D virtual worlds. The joy of (guided) discovery is envisioned to increase students' interest in math and other STEM disciplines and to significantly reduce math anxiety. The new rigorous math education standards require strong problem solving skills from each student including at-risk populations. The steady increase of student population also puts enormous pressure on schools to assist the work of their teachers. It is envisioned that the system's unique advantages over competitive solutions could ultimately make it a "must have" for the nation's 132,000 schools educating 58 million K-12 students. The project is expected to contribute to a markedly better math education.The most important technical innovations of this project are the emulation of natural-style teacher-student interactions in the domain of mathematics education, the teaching of proven problem solving strategies by an expert avatar, and the use of immersive 3D virtual worlds to help develop deep insight and advanced problem solving skills. The goal of the Phase I research is to develop a prototype system and scientifically evaluate its promise to improve students' problem solving skills in grades 6-8 within the context of the content domains and standards of mathematical practice specified by the Common Core State Standards. The system's Socratic avatar asks students purposeful questions in relation to a given problem. Students respond in a variety of constrained ways: construct written answers by dragging and dropping words into the right place, or by manipulating objects in the virtual environment. Student reasoning skills are tested continuously and non-intrusively during teach the avatar sessions in which roles are reversed and students demonstrate to a novice avatar how to solve a given problem. This will reveal a wide range of knowledge gaps in conceptual understanding and the use of particular mathematical methods. The researchers will analyze students' improvement in a pretest-posttest control group experiment.

SBIR 第一阶段项目将开发一个原型系统，教孩子们如何解决看似无望的数学问题。问题与练习的不同之处在于，无法立即明确如何处理它们。它们需要认真思考，而不是复杂的计算。例如，该系统的智能化身将帮助学生发现一种计算地月距离的方法，只需要基本的几何形状和大量的思考和实验。问题由 2D 或迷人的 3D 虚拟世界中的化身呈现。 （引导式）发现的乐趣旨在提高学生对数学和其他 STEM 学科的兴趣，并显着减少数学焦虑。新的严格数学教育标准要求每个学生（包括高危人群）具备强大的解决问题的能力。学生人数的稳步增长也给学校带来了协助教师工作的巨大压力。预计该系统相对于竞争解决方案的独特优势最终可能使其成为全国 132,000 所学校教育 5800 万 K-12 学生的“必备”产品。该项目有望为显着改善数学教育做出贡献。该项目最重要的技术创新是在数学教育领域模拟自然式的师生互动、由专家化身教授经过验证的问题解决策略，以及使用沉浸式 3D 虚拟世界来帮助培养深刻的洞察力和高级的问题解决技能。第一阶段研究的目标是开发一个原型系统，并科学评估其在共同核心国家标准规定的内容领域和数学实践标准的背景下提高 6-8 年级学生解决问题能力的承诺。 该系统的苏格拉底化身向学生询问与给定问题相关的有目的的问题。学生以各种受限制的方式做出反应：通过将单词拖放到正确的位置或通过操作虚拟环境中的对象来构建书面答案。在教授化身课程期间，学生的推理技能会受到持续且非侵入性的测试，其中角色互换，学生向新手化身演示如何解决给定问题。这将揭示概念理解和特定数学方法的使用方面的广泛知识差距。研究人员将在前测后测对照组实验中分析学生的进步。