Tutoring Techniques in Algebra

Although one-to-one tutoring has been regarded as the most effective method of teaching (Bloom, 1984), surprisingly little is understood about tutoring expertise. Much educational research focuses on classroom teaching, whereas the few studies that focus on one-to-one tutoring do not offer a precise information-processing account of this skill. This article describes our initial attempts to study one-to-one tutoring. The goal of our research is to construct a detailed cognitive model of the reasoning and knowledge of an expert human tutor. The method we have employed is a variant of knowledge engineering. We videotaped tutoring sessions with expert teachers, subjecting them to a detailed analysis aimed at abstracting the tutor's knowledge structures. In this article, we describe some important tutoring techniques we have isolated using these methods. We discuss several dimensions along which tutors appear to be intelligent planners and problem solvers. Finally, we note several implications of our research, including its potential impact on the construction of intelligent computer-based tutoring systems.