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| iPads + HMH Fuse: Algebra 1 How it will help, and why it will not help much. |
| "The best Algebra tutorial program I have seen... in a class by itself." Macworld |
Apple's sexy new iPad now has a bit of an
Algebra experiment underway: HMH Fuse:
Algebra 1 is being tried out in a number of
California schools, with the iPads being provided
by Houghton-Mifflin.
Kids already have access to Algebra on the
Web, including on-demand video instruction on
specific topics, so this may not seem like much
of a big deal. But google enough on this story
and one discovers that the educational model
will also change to make the teacher more of a
mentor while kids themselves will determine
their own path to Algebra mastery. Good things
happen by letting folks decide their own course,
so why do I not think this product will help
much?
One simple reason, in one compound word:
multiple-choice. With Fuse: Algebra 1,
problems are presented in multiple-choice form,
and no successful math tutor can be built atop
multiple-choice.
What is wrong with multiple-choice? It means
the sum total of tutorial intervention available
while the student is working is
answer-checking. That is not enough.
True learning begins only when we ourselves
attempt a new task. Confucius was more
eloquent: "I hear and I forget. I see and I
believe. I do and I understand." Students can
listen in class or watch problems solved and
explained by the teacher and think they
understand, but only when they themselves
tackle a problem do they (a) realize they are not
quite sure what to do and (b) make mistakes in
prerequisite skills, a big problem for many
students. But most software Algebra tutors are
nowhere to be found at this critical juncture.
They are simply waiting for the student to finish
working on paper and come back and type in A,
B, C, or D.
As an experienced private Algebra tutor, I know
students have trouble at every step of a solution,
with the first step usually being the toughest
since that is most often where the key new
transformation introduced by the day's lesson
must be applied. Any software Algebra tutor that
wants to make more than a marginal
improvement in how kids experience Algebra
must be involved in every step they do.
Yes, multiple-choice is the nearly universal
standard for computer Algebra tutors, but as
these notes say, computer Algebra tutors are
also nearly universally ineffective. (Or we would
not be talking about an Algebra crisis!) So why
does most software work this way?
Two reasons, both having to do with
development cost. First, to check intermediate
steps, one has to let the student type
mathematics the way you can here. But that
kind of math editor is quite hard to write.
Second, checking intermediate steps means
creating a software Algebra expert that can
recognize any possible approach the student
might take to a solution, and there can be many.
Again, quite hard to develop.
So instead students end up with multiple-choice.
This page includes a link to a video (look for
"Watch Fuse: Algebra 1 in action") where in the
opening scene you can get a feel for how
students do Algebra with Fuse: Algebra 1. The
bit where she uses the scratchpad to enter "6 - 2
= 4" as if she could not do it in her head tips us
off that this is a major shortcoming of the
product. Imagine her using that to simplify
algebraic fractions involving parentheses and
exponents! Even if it were feasible, the Fuse:
Algebra 1 software still would not be checking
her work or offering hints -- it does not see the
scratchpad work.
It does not have to be this way. The software
here lets students type readable math and work
on problems step-by-step, asking for hints or
seeing random examples solved and explained,
having every step of every problem checked as
soon as it is entered. That is where Fuse:
Algebra 1 needs to go next if it wants to
transform Algebra instruction to any interesting
degree.
Algebra experiment underway: HMH Fuse:
Algebra 1 is being tried out in a number of
California schools, with the iPads being provided
by Houghton-Mifflin.
Kids already have access to Algebra on the
Web, including on-demand video instruction on
specific topics, so this may not seem like much
of a big deal. But google enough on this story
and one discovers that the educational model
will also change to make the teacher more of a
mentor while kids themselves will determine
their own path to Algebra mastery. Good things
happen by letting folks decide their own course,
so why do I not think this product will help
much?
One simple reason, in one compound word:
multiple-choice. With Fuse: Algebra 1,
problems are presented in multiple-choice form,
and no successful math tutor can be built atop
multiple-choice.
What is wrong with multiple-choice? It means
the sum total of tutorial intervention available
while the student is working is
answer-checking. That is not enough.
True learning begins only when we ourselves
attempt a new task. Confucius was more
eloquent: "I hear and I forget. I see and I
believe. I do and I understand." Students can
listen in class or watch problems solved and
explained by the teacher and think they
understand, but only when they themselves
tackle a problem do they (a) realize they are not
quite sure what to do and (b) make mistakes in
prerequisite skills, a big problem for many
students. But most software Algebra tutors are
nowhere to be found at this critical juncture.
They are simply waiting for the student to finish
working on paper and come back and type in A,
B, C, or D.
As an experienced private Algebra tutor, I know
students have trouble at every step of a solution,
with the first step usually being the toughest
since that is most often where the key new
transformation introduced by the day's lesson
must be applied. Any software Algebra tutor that
wants to make more than a marginal
improvement in how kids experience Algebra
must be involved in every step they do.
Yes, multiple-choice is the nearly universal
standard for computer Algebra tutors, but as
these notes say, computer Algebra tutors are
also nearly universally ineffective. (Or we would
not be talking about an Algebra crisis!) So why
does most software work this way?
Two reasons, both having to do with
development cost. First, to check intermediate
steps, one has to let the student type
mathematics the way you can here. But that
kind of math editor is quite hard to write.
Second, checking intermediate steps means
creating a software Algebra expert that can
recognize any possible approach the student
might take to a solution, and there can be many.
Again, quite hard to develop.
So instead students end up with multiple-choice.
This page includes a link to a video (look for
"Watch Fuse: Algebra 1 in action") where in the
opening scene you can get a feel for how
students do Algebra with Fuse: Algebra 1. The
bit where she uses the scratchpad to enter "6 - 2
= 4" as if she could not do it in her head tips us
off that this is a major shortcoming of the
product. Imagine her using that to simplify
algebraic fractions involving parentheses and
exponents! Even if it were feasible, the Fuse:
Algebra 1 software still would not be checking
her work or offering hints -- it does not see the
scratchpad work.
It does not have to be this way. The software
here lets students type readable math and work
on problems step-by-step, asking for hints or
seeing random examples solved and explained,
having every step of every problem checked as
soon as it is entered. That is where Fuse:
Algebra 1 needs to go next if it wants to
transform Algebra instruction to any interesting
degree.