Intelligent Support for Learning by Problem-Posing and Practical Use: Problem-Posing as Reconstruction and Diagnosis-Feedback Function

Abstract

“Problem-posing” is a promising learning method to promote comprehension of a problem and its solution method. The author has been investigating computer-based intelligent support software for learning by posing arithmetic/mathematics word problems with automatic diagnosis and adaptive feedback for more than twenty years. Effectiveness of the intelligent support software has been confirmed through practical uses by several teachers in several elementary and high schools. In this paper, the sequence of development of the software and its practical uses are reported. In the software, problem-posing is implemented by a combination of components. The components are defined based on a model of arithmetic/mathematics word problem called “triplet structure model”. In the model, a component represents a proposition of a quantity, and then, by using the semantics of the proposition, a numeric operation is decided. Because a posed problem is composed of known components, it is possible to realize automatic diagnosis and feedback based on the diagnosis. Promising extensions of this type of problem-posing are also discussed in this paper.