Tracking Problem Solving by Multivariate Pattern Analysis and Hidden Markov Model Algorithms

John R. Anderson

Neuropsychologia Vol. 50, No. 4 (March 2012) pp. 487–498

Multivariate pattern analysis can be combined with Hidden Markov Model algorithms to track the second-by-second thinking as people solve complex problems. Two applications of this methodology are illustrated with a data set taken from children as...

Practice Enables Successful Learning under Minimal Guidance

Angela Brunstein; Shawn Betts; John R. Anderson

Journal of Educational Psychology Vol. 101, No. 4 (November 2009) pp. 790–802

Two experiments were conducted, contrasting a minimally guided discovery condition with a variety of instructional conditions. College students interacted with a computer-based tutor that presented algebra-like problems in a novel graphical...

The Strategic Nature of Changing Your Mind

Matthew M. Walsh; John R. Anderson

Cognitive Psychology Vol. 58, No. 3 (May 2009) pp. 416–440

In two experiments, we studied how people's strategy choices emerge through an initial and then a more considered evaluation of available strategies. The experiments employed a computer-based paradigm where participants solved multiplication...

Feedback Control and Learning To Program with the CMU Lisp Tutor

Albert T. Corbett; John R. Anderson

This study manipulated the timing and control of error feedback in problem solving and examined their effects on skill acquisition by 40 undergraduate students learning to program in the computer language Lisp under four error feedback conditions....

The Role of Mental Models in Learning to Program

Peter L. Pirolli; John R. Anderson

This study reports two experiments which indicate that the processes of providing subjects with insightful representations of example programs and guiding subjects through an "ideal" problem solving strategy facilitate learning. A production system...

Exploring Optimal Conditions of Instructional Guidance in an Algebra Tutor

Hee Seung Lee; John R. Anderson; Susan R. Berman; Jennifer Ferris-Glick; Ambarish Joshi; Tristan Nixon; Steve Ritter

In designing learning environments that support student learning, there are many instructional design decisions. These include when and how to provide examples, verbal explanations, feedback, and other scaffolding features. In this paper, the...