SUPPORTING GROUP MATH COGNITION IN VIRTUAL MATH TEAMS WITH SOFTWARE CONVERSATIONAL AGENTS

This is a research paper on a new tool to support dynamic mathematics in education. The research explores the use of software agents to engage in synchronous interaction with a small group of students working online in the Virtual Math Teams environment. The purpose of the agents is to facilitate discourse by the students that promotes their collaborative learning. In particular, the conversational agents try to encourage academically productive talk, in which students work together in ways that are accountable to each other and to their task. The agents are currently being tested in student groups working on problems in combinatorics. This research will soon be extended to student groups using a multi-user version of GeoGebra.

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