Suzi Van Steenbergen
EDS 297, Spring, 2011
Dr. Jim Levin, UCSD
Web URL: http://edsserver.ucsd.edu/courses/eds297/sp11/netlogo/Tutorial.html
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View/download model file:
Tutorial.nlogo
This NetLogo model examines one portion of the AVID Tutorial, an inquiry-based learning process that seeks to help students deepen their understanding of course content through a structured, cooperative group discussion and guided learning process. The AVID Tutorial offers students a system of learning in which students use higher-level, guiding questions to to help each other reach a deeper understanding of a given concept. The goal is not to simply arrive at an answer, but to ensure that the student receiving guidance has a deep understanding of the problem that he or she posed. The intention is for everyone in the group to benefit from the process. Thus, it is not a linear model of learning, but a recursive, cooperative one.
In tutorial, students sit in a horseshoe around a white board. One at a time, each student stands up and writes his or her question on the white board. The questions should be higher level questions, Costa's Level 2 or 3. Such questions are more complex than Level 1 questions, which can be answered quickly with little thinking. Level 2 and 3 questions ask students to "explain," "compare and contrast," "hypothesize" or any number of other higher level tasks. This link provides more examples of Costa's 3 Levels of questions.
Students in the group then start by asking the presenter, "tell us what you already know about your question." This facilitates recall of prior knowledge, as subsequent questions seek to build on the student presenter's prior knowledge toward deeper understanding. The student presenter then writes on the board all background and beginning steps to solving the problem, depending on the subject area.
When the student reaches the point at which he or she is "stuck," the rest of the group starts asking guiding questions to help that student move through the confusion. Students in the group, supported by a paid, trained college student tutor, ask the presenter questions that guide that student toward solving his or her own problem. Rather than provide the answers, the role of the group is to provide guidance and support as students think through their questions. As the presenter solves his or her problem on the white board, the students in the group take Cornell Notes on that student's problem, while the tutor takes notes for the presenting student.
At the end of that student's session, the group asks the student to review his or her work. This "check for understanding" is an important part of ensuring that the presenting student and the students in the group have a deep and thorough understanding of the problem at hand. One "round" of a tutorial can take between 5 and 20 minutes, depending on the difficulty of the initial question and the quality of support from the group. The entire tutorial lasts about an hour. Depending on the size of the group, the quality of the questions, and the degree to which all students in the group are asking similar questions, most students get their questions answered during this process.
The tutorial is a complex process with many moving parts. This model will focus only on the relationship between the quality of the student presenter's initial question and the level of understanding of the issue reached by all students in the group. As I have observed the tutorials over the course of this school year, I have noticed that:
1. If students come to the group with a Level 1 question, they can increase their level of understanding, by only by a small amount. The same is true for the student group members--their understanding will increase, but only by a small amount.
2. If students come to the group with a level 2 question, they can increase their level of understanding by more than they would if they started with a level 1 question. The same is true for student group members.
3. If students come with a Level 3 question they can achieve the deepest level of understanding. In the model, if the student presenter starts off very small, representing a low level of initial understanding, she cannot grow more than a set amount, even with a higher level question to start. Student presenters and group members can achieve the deepest level of understanding, growing the most, depending on their initial level of understanding.
4. Students must come to the group with some prior knowledge about their question. For example, if a student was absent for the introduction of a brand new concept in math, the tutorial will not be successful, since there is very little on which to build students' understanding. If a student starts with a very low level of understanding, they will "grow" very little during the tutorial process.
5. When all is moving smoothly, all students in the group, including those in the horseshoe, arrive at a deeper understanding of the presenter's question. Since students are grouped by subject area, this benefits all students.
6. Student group members often start at variable levels of understanding about a particular topic. In the model, this is represented by size: the larger the student, the deeper the understanding that student possesses. The AVID tutor, in red, starts with the greatest level of understanding and does not "grow" during the tutorial process. In reality, AVID tutors do grow and learn over time, but for the sake of this demonstration, their learning remains constant.
Choose an initial quesiton level (1, 2, or 3).
Press "setup." You will notice that the size of the Student Presenter (in green) and the Student Group Members (in blue) will change with each press of the "setup" button. The size of each student represents the initial level of understanding of the question. Since students will usually have various levels of understanding of a topic at the start of tutorial, they must start at various "sizes" to represent this variabilty.
Press "go." The model will go through a full tutorial "cycle," which involves the Student Group Members asking questions of the Student Presenter. As the process goes foward, all of the students will "grow," representing their increased understanding of the issue at hand.
When starting with a "level 1" neither the Student Presenter nor the Student Group Members "grow" very much. When starting with a "level 2" or "level 3" question, all students (except the tutor) grow by the most.
Press "setup" multiple times to play with the various levels of initial student understanding. Observe the relationship between Student Presenter initial understanding and growth for all students, including group members. Using the graph, are there cases where Student Group Member learning approaches or exceeds that of Student Presenter? Is the reverse ever true?
There are a number of variables that could be added to this model to complexify the outcomes for the students in the group. Here are just a few suggestions for modifications:
1. Vary the level of questions coming from Student Group Members during tutorial, and account for the fact that when students don't ask higher level questions, their learning is not as "deep."
2. Add a dimension of "engagement" for the Student Group Members. The more "engaged" students are, which can take the form of more or better questions, note-taking, thinking ahead, and processing, the more that student learns. The model could vary the "engagement" for each individual Student Group Member, and allow users to observe the impact on overall, average student understanding depending on how "engaged" each individual member is during the process.
3. Add a dimension of "prior knowledge" for the Student Presenter. When the "prior knowledge" is set higher, the student could achieve a deeper level of understanding by applying that prior knowledge to the new, novel question.
4. Add a complicating factor of Tutor involvement. When tutors are too involved, sometimes that has a stifilig effect on Student Group Member particpation and engagement, and thus on student learning for everyone.
breed [students student]
breed [tutor]
students-own [understanding]
tutor-own [understanding]
breed [questions question]
to startup
setup
end
to setup
clear-all
set-default-shape questions "question"
set-default-shape students "person"
set-default-shape tutor "person"
ask patches [set pcolor yellow]
create-students 5
create-tutor 1
ask students [set understanding (random 3) + 2]
ask student 0 [setxy 0 2]
ask student 0 [set color green set understanding (random 3 + 2)]
ask student 1 [set color blue]
ask student 1 [setxy -10 0]
ask student 2 [setxy 10 0]
ask student 2 [set color blue]
ask tutor [set color red set understanding 7]
ask turtle 3 [setxy -7 -7]
ask turtle 3 [set color blue]
ask turtle 4 [setxy 7 -7]
ask turtle 4 [set color blue]
ask tutor [setxy 0 -10]
ask turtles [set size understanding]
create-questions 1 [ set size 3 set color black hide-turtle]
end
to go
if (ticks > 5) [stop]
send-questions
ask questions [ hide-turtle ]
ask students [ learn set size understanding]
do-plot
tick
end
to do-plot
set-current-plot "Average_Understanding"
set-current-plot-pen "Group"
plot mean [understanding] of students
set-current-plot-pen "Presenter"
plot [understanding] of student 0
end
to learn
if (InitialQuestionLevel = 1 ) [set understanding understanding + (random-float .1) ]
if (initialquestionlevel = 2 ) [set understanding understanding + (random-float .4) ]
if (initialquestionlevel = 3 ) [set understanding understanding + (random-float .9) ]
set understanding (min (list 6 understanding))
end
to send-questions
ask students [ send-question ]
end
to send-question
let dist 0
ask questions
[show-turtle
setxy [xcor] of myself [ycor ] of myself
face student 0
set dist distance-nowrap student 0
repeat dist [ wait .05 ;; 1/20 second
fd 1 ]
]
end
;to send-questions ;; [to-whom]
; let dist 0
; ask questions
; [show-turtle
; setxy 0 2
; ]
; ask turtle 6 [ set dist distance-nowrap student 1]
; repeat dist [
; wait .1 ;; 1/10 second
; ask turtle 6
; [face student 1
; fd 1
; ]
; ask turtle 7
; [face student 2
; fd 1
; ]
; ask turtle 8
; [face student 3
; fd 1
; ]
; ask turtle 9
; [face student 4
; fd 1
; ]
; ask turtle 10
; [face student 5
; fd 1
; ]
; ]
;end
;