Tutoring Dialogue Goals for Conceptual Understanding of Differential Equations: Preliminary Work

The Differential Equations Tutoring Project is studying the conversational dialogue during problem-solving tutoring sessions, where the aim is for the student to grasp the solution technique in conceptual ways. In this study, we analyze the common conversational and tutorial goal structure in nine keyboard-to-keyboard tutoring sessions. We compared these goals, along with the tutoring dialogue, to a proposed framework of skills that are used for assessing whether students have a grasp of the concepts underlying the solution technique.