June 1997 — Features

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Computers in Education: A Brief History

Intelligent Tutors

In the 1970s, researchers were looking for new educational paradigms to take advantage of breakthroughs in computer technology. It appeared that the combination of artificial intelligence, cognitive science and advanced technologies could dramatically improve learning and problem solving. Intelligent CAI (ICAI) was one such paradigm.

John Seely Brown developed SOPHIE (a SOPHisticated Instructional Environment) as a new kind of learning environment in which the computer-based instruction system literally understands its subject domain and can use its knowledge base to help the student debug and articulate his own ideas and reasoning strategies.[15]

John Anderson of Carnegie Mellon University developed a theory of cognition (ACT) and developed ICAI tutors in algebra, geometry and teaching computer programming languages. Andersonís goal was to achieve a one sigma difference in school performance. Results show a one letter-grade improvement for all students.[16]

Intelligent Tools

Another approach was to build the intelligence into the tool. If educators were to raise the entire level of educational performance, merely learning faster or better would not be sufficient. Often the difficulty in problem solving is not inherent in the nature of the problem, but in the tools available to us. Computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing in engineering greatly empowered students to achieve what professional engineers were able to accomplish using the older methods. The aim was to build the intelligence into the tool and let students focus on problem-solving and reasoning.

In another example of computer-aided performance, Wallace Feurzeig of BBN developed an algebra workbench that has the intelligence to solve algebra problems as directed by the student. The purpose was to create a rich exploratory environment and introduce intelligent aids and computer tools to shift the focus of instruction away from manipulative skills, something the computer d'es well, to an emphasis on qualitative reasoning and problem solving. [17]

NEW TECHNOLOGY-BASED EDUCATION

Doing better is not the same as doing better things. Increasingly, many concepts and ideas cannot be taught without the aid of technology to represent and manipulate them. As a tool, high-speed computers revolutionized the representation and manipulation of information. Computers became the new instruments for extending our senses and intuition. Computer models, simulations and other symbolic representations provided an environment for the vicarious learning necessary to build human intuition. Modern science has, after all, outstripped sensory experience. The new world of science was about abstractions and complexity. Andrea DiSessa says the trick is not to turn experiences into abstractions with a computer, but to turn abstractions, like the laws of physics, into experiences.[18]