Learning to Model Students: Using Theory Refinement to Detect Misconceptions

A new student modeling system called Assert is described. Assert is a general purpose algorithm which uses domain independent techniques to perform student modeling and to automatically construct libraries of common bugs. For its modeling component, Assert uses a machine learning technique which is an extension of the Either theory refinement algorithm. A common library of bugs is constructed by extracting commonalities across multiple student models. Initial experimental data suggests that Assert is a more effective modeling system than other techniques previously explored, and that the automatic bug library construction significantly enhances subsequent modeling efforts. 1 Introduction Almost since the advent of the computer age, researchers have recognized the computer's enormous potential as an educational aid. Early efforts to use computers as educational tools resulted in a paradigm now generally known as computer aided instruction (CAI). Such programs are used to automate the ..