Exploring Two Strategies for Teaching Procedures

Due to high cost and complexity of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS), current systems typically implement a single teaching strategy, and comparative evaluations of alternative strategies are rare. We explore two competing strategies for teaching database normalization. Each data normalization problem consists of a number of tasks, some of which are optional. The first strategy enforces the procedural nature of the data normalization by providing an interface that requires the student to complete the current task (i.e. a part of the problem) before attempting the next one. The alternative strategy provides more freedom to the student, allowing him/her to select the task to work on. We performed an evaluation study which showed that the former, more restrictive strategy results in better problem-solving skills.

[1]  Ramez Elmasri,et al.  Fundamentals of Database Systems , 1989 .

[2]  Maja J. Matarić,et al.  Learning to Use Selective Attention and Short-Term Memory in Sequential Tasks , 1996 .

[3]  John Sweller,et al.  Cognitive Load Theory , 2020, Encyclopedia of Education and Information Technologies.

[4]  George C. Philip,et al.  Journal of Information Technology Education Teaching Database Modeling and Design: Areas of Confusion and Helpful Hints Teaching Database Modeling and Design , 2022 .

[5]  J. Sweller.  COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY, LEARNING DIFFICULTY, AND INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN , 1994 .

[6]  Andrew McCallum,et al.  Learning to Use Selective Attention and Short-Term Memory in Sequential Tasks , 1996 .

[7]  Antonija Mitrovic,et al.  Revisiting Ill-Definedness and the Consequences for ITSs , 2009, AIED.

[8]  G. A. Miller.  THE PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW THE MAGICAL NUMBER SEVEN, PLUS OR MINUS TWO: SOME LIMITS ON OUR CAPACITY FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION 1 , 1956 .

[9]  Antonija Mitrovic,et al.  Fifteen years of constraint-based tutors: what we have achieved and where we are going , 2011, User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction.

[10]  G. A. Miller.  The magical number seven plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information. , 1956, Psychological review.

[11]  Hsiang-Jui Kung,et al.  An Alternative Approach to Teaching Database Normalization: A Simple Algorithm and an Interactive e-Learning Tool , 2006, J. Inf. Syst. Educ..

[12]  Antonija Mitrovic.  The Effect of Explaining on Learning: a Case Study with a Data Normalization Tutor , 2005, AIED.