Designing a Teachable Agent System for Mathematics Learning

Yıl 2017, Cilt: 8 Sayı: 2, 176 - 190, 17.04.2017

Donggil Song

Öz

Learning-by-teaching has been identified as one of the more effective approaches to learning.
Recently, educational researchers have investigated virtual environments in order to utilize the
learning-by-teaching pedagogy. In a face-to-face learning-by-teaching situation, the role of the
learners is to teach their peers or instructors. In virtual environments, learners take an active
role by teaching a computer agent, which is referred to as Teachable Agent (TA). Although the
current TA systems have shown their effectiveness on students’ learning, there are some
challenges associated with learner-computer interaction methods. One of the most popular
interaction methods between the learner and the system is a concept map approach. The
learner teaches TA by creating information structures by drawing and editing their concept map.
However, the learner can teach TA rather constrained topics, such as concept-related materials
or causal effects. It is difficult for TA systems to be utilized in different types of learning along
with concept-related areas. Therefore, new approaches or methods for communication
between a human learner and TA systems are required. This project aims to suggest a virtual
learning-by-teaching environment. A communication method (i.e., a symbol manipulation
approach) was adopted in this system. The method facilitates the interaction between the
learner and the computer agent, specifically for K-12 students’ mathematics learning. The
design and development process is described, and future research areas are discussed.

Anahtar Kelimeler

learning by teaching , teachable agent , pedagogical agent , intelligent system

Kaynakça

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