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From Learning Companions to Testing Companions Experience with a Teachable Agent Motivates Students' Performance on Summative Tests

Sjödén, Björn LU and Gulz, Agneta LU (2015) 17th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) 9112. p.459-469
Abstract
In three quasi-experimental studies, we investigated the effects of placing a Teachable Agent (TA) from a math game in a digital summative test. We hypothesized that the TA would affect test performance, even without actual "teachability", by social influence on the test situation. In Study 1 (N=47), students did a pretest, played the math game for seven weeks, and did a posttest either with or without the TA. In Study 2 (N=62), students did not play the game but were introduced to a TA directly in the posttest. In Study 3 (N=165), the game included a social chat with the TA, and the posttest offered a choice of more difficult questions. Results showed significant effects of the TA on choice and performance on conceptual math problems,... (More)
In three quasi-experimental studies, we investigated the effects of placing a Teachable Agent (TA) from a math game in a digital summative test. We hypothesized that the TA would affect test performance, even without actual "teachability", by social influence on the test situation. In Study 1 (N=47), students did a pretest, played the math game for seven weeks, and did a posttest either with or without the TA. In Study 2 (N=62), students did not play the game but were introduced to a TA directly in the posttest. In Study 3 (N=165), the game included a social chat with the TA, and the posttest offered a choice of more difficult questions. Results showed significant effects of the TA on choice and performance on conceptual math problems, though not on overall test scores. We conclude that experience with a TA can influence performance beyond interaction and informative feedback. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Learning-by-teaching, Teachable agents, TA, Assessment, Summative test, Social influence, Test performance
host publication
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
volume
9112
pages
459 - 469
publisher
Springer
conference name
17th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED)
conference location
Univ Natl Educac Distancia, Madrid, Spain
conference dates
2015-06-22 - 2015-06-26
external identifiers
  • wos:000365041100046
  • scopus:84949033240
ISSN
0302-9743
1611-3349
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-19773-9_46
project
Seeing and Talking Maths in Games
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
83c15c64-6124-40a9-9ecc-ec906e9a4693 (old id 8377399)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:09:39
date last changed
2025-01-14 07:31:26
@inproceedings{83c15c64-6124-40a9-9ecc-ec906e9a4693,
  abstract     = {{In three quasi-experimental studies, we investigated the effects of placing a Teachable Agent (TA) from a math game in a digital summative test. We hypothesized that the TA would affect test performance, even without actual "teachability", by social influence on the test situation. In Study 1 (N=47), students did a pretest, played the math game for seven weeks, and did a posttest either with or without the TA. In Study 2 (N=62), students did not play the game but were introduced to a TA directly in the posttest. In Study 3 (N=165), the game included a social chat with the TA, and the posttest offered a choice of more difficult questions. Results showed significant effects of the TA on choice and performance on conceptual math problems, though not on overall test scores. We conclude that experience with a TA can influence performance beyond interaction and informative feedback.}},
  author       = {{Sjödén, Björn and Gulz, Agneta}},
  booktitle    = {{Lecture Notes in Computer Science}},
  issn         = {{0302-9743}},
  keywords     = {{Learning-by-teaching; Teachable agents; TA; Assessment; Summative test; Social influence; Test performance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{459--469}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  title        = {{From Learning Companions to Testing Companions Experience with a Teachable Agent Motivates Students' Performance on Summative Tests}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19773-9_46}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/978-3-319-19773-9_46}},
  volume       = {{9112}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}