USC's Information Sciences Institute, long known for its
research and development on the Internet and computer
science, has embarked on a new challenge: K-12 Education.
Carole Beal, an educational psychologist who joined the
Institute in late 2003, researches ways to improve the
teaching process in K-12 classrooms using information
technology.
Herbert Schorr, executive director of ISI, which is part of the
USC Viterbi School of Engineering, explained the
background.
"Many parents are concerned that our K-12 educational
system is falling short. We believe that information
technology has a huge potential contribution to make to this
problem. While sophisticated computer tools have been
introduced with enormous success in other areas, in
education their application is spotty and erratic, and fails to
use the best technology.
"We hope that ISI can make the kind of contribution in this
area that it has in communication, defense, robotics,
language translation and computer hardware and software. I
believe there is no higher priority, and I think Carole is the
right person to guide our involvement."
Beal directs ISI's new Learning and Development Center,
which focuses on fundamental research on learning and the
use of technology to improve learning outcomes in K-12
classrooms. Beal's work is closely tied to the ISI Center for
Advanced Research in Technology for Education, which is
nationally known for its work using artificial intelligence for
educational ends. Previously, ISI focused on training
techniques for the military and health professions. "But the
techniques have come of age and we believe the potential
for K-12 education is exceptional," says W. Lewis Johnson,
the director of CARTE and Beal's collaborator on many of the
projects.
Four new projects provide individualized web-based
tutoring in math and science for K-12 students, with a special
focus on improving the representation of girls and students
from groups that have traditionally been under-represented
in science and technology. The projects include: The
Wayang Outpost project, supported by the
National Science Foundation's Research on Learning and
Education (ROLE) program uses on-line assessments
of high school students' individual learning styles and
attention to customize multimedia instruction in geometry.
Another effort
focuses on creating software to support the learning options
that are more often preferred by female students, including
on-line collaboration on math problem solving through chat
and text messaging features.
A third project, "Dynamically Modifying
The Learning Trajectories Of Novices With Pedagogical
Agents," study is funded by the Institute of Education
Sciences (the new research office of the U. S. Department of
Education). In collaboration with ISI's CARTE and UCLA's
IMMEX Center, the project will use artificial intelligence to
tailor high school chemistry material to students by
continuously assessing skills and concentrating on areas that
most need help. Previous work by IMMEX-UCLA
researcher Ron Stevens indicates that students all too often
cling to inefficient ways to solve problems. The new
collaboration with ISI will use AI agents as an efficient tool
to help students shift to more effective problem solving
strategies.
The fourth project ("AnimalWatch") is also
supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, and
focuses on individualized web-based tutoring to support
students at the difficult transition from arithmetic to algebra.
Students work on math problems about endangered species,
and take part in "virtual adventures" led by animated
characters based on real scientists who use mathematics in
their research.
In each project, the tutoring software is aligned with
California curriculum standards for mathematics and
sciences, and includes practice tests to help students
prepare for annual state achievement tests.
The projects will collaborate with several local school
districts, including Pasadena, and Placentia-Yorba Linda.
"We also hope to work with USC's Family of Schools," said
Beal, referring to a group of LA Unified School District
schools located near USC's University Park and Health
Science campuses that have a close collaborative relation in
many areas with USC. "In fact, we are actively seeking
California schools to partner with us on the new projects,"
said Beal.
In addition to the projects on the use of technology to
improve K-12 learning, Beal also investigates how the
characteristics of human learning can be modeled to
improve machine learning. In collaboration with Senior
Post-doctoral Fellow Clayton Morrison, Beal directs the
DARPA funded "Human-like Learning" project that
models the kind of non-verbal, spatial thinking humans do
when they visualize problems and discover new
solutions.
Beal came to ISI after 20 years at the University of
Massachusetts at
Amherst, where she was a professor of psychology.
"Being at ISI is a great opportunity to work with world class
computer science faculty and graduate students in creating
technology to support K-12 educators, students, and
families."
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