Integrating Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge for Middle-school Math

Cognitive Tutors have been shown to lead to impressive improvement in student learning in a range of domains, including middle school mathematics. Most Cognitive Tutors focus on providing learning support for tasks involving problem solving. They typically emphasize facilitating the acquisition of procedural knowledge, on the assumption that the acquisition of conceptual knowledge will be supported outside the tutor through classroom activities or an accompanying textbook. Many researchers agree that expertise in a domain involves not just procedural knowledge, but also conceptual knowledge, as well as tight interconnections between the two. In order to provide two types of knowledge instruction within the same Intelligent Tutoring System, we are now building a novel type of Cognitive Tutor to bridge the existing gap between teaching conceptual and procedural instruction with the same educational software. Keywords. Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Cognitive Tutors, Conceptual Instruction...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: AIED
• Authors: Gustavo Santos, Iris K. Howley, Brad Copenhaver, Vincent Aleven
• Keywords: AIED 2009, Cognitive Tutors, Conceptual Knowledge, Procedural Knowledge