The Analogical Origins of Errors in Problem Solving
John R. Anderson · KiltHub Repository · 2013
We have been working on intelligent tutors to teach students problem solving skills in the domains of generating proofs in geometry (Anderson, Boyle, & Yost, 1985), writing LISP programs (Reiser, Anderson, & Farrell, 1985), and solving algebraic manipulation problems (Lewis, Milson, & Anderson, 1987). Student errors are the most important events in terms of guiding the tutorial dialogues. They are very good signals that the student is in need of help. Other cues do not seem so reliable. Latency of response and requests for help are the two other cues that we have considered in addition to errors. Long latencies may only mean that the student has been distracted and students are notoriously unwilling to ask for help. On the other hand an error comes close to being a necessary and sufficient condition for tutorial intervention. They are the primary signal used by almost all tutorial systems that have been built (e.g., consider Sleeman & Brown, 1982).