Developing an Intelligent Tutoring System that has Automatically Generated Hints and Summarization for Algebra and Geometry

Abstract

Intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs), which provide step-by-step guidance to students in problem-solving activities, have been shown to enhance student learning in a range of domains. However, they tend to be preestablished and cannot supply the tutoring function immediately from the diverse mathematical questions. The MITSAS (multiagent intelligent tutoring system after school) is a web-based ITS in algebra and geometry with a natural language interface which is designed to extract the hint and summarization from the detailed solving answer automatically. In this paper, its Design principles and functionality is analysed firstly. Then, the framework including the natural language understanding agent, automatic modelling agent and automatic problem-solving agent are discussed in the following in order to support the real-time problems solution. Next, the methods for automatically extracting tutoring function such as hint and summarization is given based on the difficulty of knowledge components and the type of problem acquired from the detailed answer. Finally, the effectiveness of MITSAS at improving the Chinese Students' learning gain is shown by an experiment conducted in junior school.