Teacher AICA: A Mobile-based Intelligent Tutoring System

for Laws of Exponents

Rex P. Bringula Jairus Lyndel G. Belza Sherwin P. Belarmino
University of the East University of the East University of the East
2219 CM Recto Avenue 2219 CM Recto Avenue 2219 CM Recto Avenue
Sampaloc, Manila Sampaloc, Manila Sampaloc, Manila
6327355471 6327355471 6327355471
rex_bringula@yahoo.com jai.belza95@gmail.com sherwinbelarmino@gmail.com
Mary Claire G. Chavez
University of the East
2219 CM Recto Avenue
Sampaloc, Manila
6327355471
clairechavez0407@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Computing exponents is one of the most difficult mathematical Also, learning exponential concepts would be very helpful to
topics to learn by high school students. Motivated by this concern, avoid inaccuracy and complexity in the computations. Thus, lack
a mobile-based intelligent tutoring system (ITS) is being of its knowledge greatly affects computations and measurements
developed to assist students in learning laws of exponents. In this leading to undesirable results. Therefore, it is very important that
paper, the development and the proposed deployment of a mobile students learn the concepts of this topic to ensure precise and
learning system for computing of exponents will be discussed. A accurate measurement and computation.
randomized pretest-posttest control group design will be
employed to determine if the mobile-based ITS is able to assist Learning laws of exponents is difficult [2,5]. However, with the
the students in learning exponents. aid of mobile devices and advancement in the design of intelligent
tutoring systems (ITS) can lessen the difficulty. Moreover,
CCS Concepts students can use mobile learning systems anytime and anywhere
• Human-centered computing➝Ubiquitous and mobile they like. The mobile learning systems can provide student
computing➝Empirical studies in ubiquitous and mobile support even the learners are outside the classroom [1,6,8].
computing Mobile learning systems are capable of providing a convenient
and ubiquitous access to knowledge [3]. These new technologies
Keywords have the potential to offer inexpensive technological solutions to
AICA; intelligent tutoring system; laws of exponents; mobile schools not capable of providing support to computer laboratories
learning and to individuals [4,7]. With all these advantages of mobile
learning, it is assumed that students might learn the subject matter.
1. INTRODUCTION To test this claim, a mobile-assisted ITS for laws of exponents is
Exponents are undisputedly very important and are basically in being developed. Specifically, this study will attempt to answer
our daily lives. In the field of science, engineering, economics, the following questions.
accounting, finance and other disciplines use exponents
particularly in the discussion of quantities whether very big or 1. What is the mathematics performance of the students that
very small things. Learning exponential concepts and their received
corresponding laws are significant specifically in the a. traditional teaching followed by tutoring system teaching
computations and measurements of small and large quantities. strategy?
b. tutoring system strategy followed by traditional teaching
strategy?
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this 2. Is there a significant difference on the mathematics
work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee performance of the students on the two teaching strategies?
provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or
commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the 2. PROPOSED METHOD
full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this
work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting
2.1 Research Framework, Locale, Subjects,
with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post Sample and Sampling Design
on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific
permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from The research framework of the study is shown in Figure 1. The
Permissions@acm.org. framework shows that there are two parallel sessions of learning
MoMM '16, November 28-30, 2016, Singapore, Singapore laws of exponents. The first session will involve instructions lead
© 2016 ACM. ISBN 978-1-4503-4806-5/16/11…$15.00 by a human teacher. After the human teacher discussed the laws
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3007120.3007150 of exponents, an assessment in a form of test will be administered.
Afterwards, a tutoring session of Teacher AICA (Artificially
Intelligent Cognizant Agent) will follow. The number of days will
be spent in the tutoring session of Teacher AICA is the same
number of days that a human teacher will be spent in explaining
the topic of laws of exponents.
The second session is the same session with the first session
except that Teacher AICA will do first the teaching followed by a
human teacher. This data gathering procedure is designed to
address two concerns. First, it will answer the posted research
question. Second, all participants will have the opportunity to
experience in using a new teaching classroom material.
INTERVENTION
TEACHER ASSESSMENT
PERIOD
ASSESSMENT
VERSUS
INTERVENTION
PERIOD
ASSESSMENT TEACHER ASSESSMENT
Figure 1. Research Design
This study will be conducted at the University of the East -
Elementary and Secondary Laboratory Schools (UE-ESLS)
Department. The subjects of this study will be two sections of
Grade 7 students from the said department. Each section has 40
students. Grade 7 students are selected because their mathematics
curriculum includes introduction to laws of exponents. The
participants will be randomly selected through their class sections.
2.2 Research Instrument and Data Gathering
Procedure
Participants of each group will take two assessment tests – one
each after teaching of human teacher and Teacher AICA. The test
will be composed of ten items relating to power of exponents. The
items will be examined by a mathematics teacher to determine its
validity. A reliability test will be conducted to one section of
Grade 7 students who are not part of the study. Cronbach’s alpha
analysis will be utilized to determine the reliability of the test.
All interactions of the students in Teacher AICA will be stored in
the internal memory of the mobile device. The logs will include
posted problems, problem solved, timestamps, number of steps
made to solve the problem, hints used, switching of windows, and
occurrences of AICA answering the problem.
2.3 Statistical Treatment of Data
The statistical tool that will be used in the interpretation of data
will include frequency counts, percentages and t-test (independent
samples). Frequency counts and percentages will be used to
describe the profile of the respondents and their test performances.
Test of difference between means of independent samples will be
used to determine if there is significant difference between the
mathematics performances of the two sets of participants. A 5%
level of confidence with 95% reliability will be utilized to
determine the significance of the findings.
2.4 Description of the Application
The application is a mobile learning system application that aims
to teach and assist students in solving exponents. It is intended for
Grade 7 students who are studying laws of exponents as part of
their mathematics curriculum. The application is assumed to be
utilized by beginners who can only solve a mathematical problem
one step at a time.
The application consists of several features and facilities that take
on a new and innovative concept of learning. Through these
application capabilities, the student will be more enticed to learn
more about solving problems related to laws of exponents.
 Students have the option to solve own mathematical
problem or a computer-generated one
 A virtual assistant named Teacher AICA (Artificially
Intelligent Cognizant Agent) can guide the students
solving a problem.
 The application has a considerable amount of reading
materials for user reference and study.
 The application has interactive lectures dedicated to
teach students efficiently similar to a classroom setting.

The application is capable of providing students
problems that fit their current level of knowledge
through utilization of data gathered from student’s
performance and skill to adapt to his or her level of
aptitude through an increase of difficulty in problems
given
 The application can provide feedback and can detect
wrong inputs.
 The application is capable of providing useful hints for
students who are struggling in solving a problem.
 Teacher AICA can solve problems on its own.
 Students can close or abort a problem.
 The application can be updated.
 The application has a user manual that can guide users
on how to use the application.
The application will be developed in the Android OS platform and
requires Android 5.0 as the recommended minimum version of the
Android device. It requires that the Android device has sufficient
space in its internal memory for the storing of user logs and data
which will be used in the analysis of student skill and
performance for difficulty adaptability. Java will be used as the
primary programming language for the app development. HTML
and XML will be utilized for the app’s layout and content.
Android Studio will be used to develop the environment of the
application. SQLite Database will be utilized to store and restore
user data and logs such as, problems generated, and hints. It will
utilize the file system of the device for the storing of data from the
SQLite Database. A custom-made keyboard for mathematical
input will be provided which will temporarily replace the original
keyboard for placing user input.
The application will consist of five (5) sections, namely the Solve
Exponents, Reading Materials, Lectures, View History, and Help.
The application is capable of providing students the problems that
fit their current level of knowledge. This is possible through the
application’s capability to track student performance and skill in
solving problems. The problem solving interface is the heart of
the application. The user will be redirected to this interface after
choosing between the two modes (user-input or application-
generated). The first mode  the user-input mode allows
students to test their own capabilities by allowing them to input
problems they want to solve. The second mode  the application-
generated mode  allows students to solve problems that are
generated by the application based on the users’ skill level. In
both modes, students may visit first the lectures of the application
before solving a problem.
The application utilizes a virtual assistant in the person of Teacher
AICA (see Figure 2-a). She will assist the students in learning the
laws of exponents. The application has reading materials about
laws of exponents. Topics are sorted according to the skill sets the
students need to learn (see Figure 2-b).
consist of three (3) subsections: User Manual, Check for Updates,
and About Us subsections. The user manual can help students in
using the app. They are represented as textual representations and
are aided with pictures that tell how certain functions work and
the implications behind every function.
The application also provides the capability to check for updates
for the latest version. This is to ensure that the software that the
students will be using is maintained and is checked regularly for
errors and bugs inside the program. The About Us subsection
consists of the application’s description and the people behind its
development. The general process of the software is depicted in
Figure 4.

(a) (b)
Figure 2. a) Home screen and b) Topics covered in the
application
The application features interactive classroom-like lectures with
Teacher AICA as the instructor. Teacher AICA will guide and
teach the students in all of the topics in laws of exponents. The
lecture of Teacher AICA contains explanation and elaboration of
definitions, concepts, theories, and examples. Teacher AICA can
also give quizzes for students. The skill sets defined in this
application are positive integer exponents, base raised to zero, (a) (b)
addition of exponents with the same bases, multiplication of bases
with the same exponents, multiplication of exponents to find the Figure 3. a) Problem-solving interface, b) Teacher AICA
power of a power, division of bases with the same exponents, providing feedback on the solution entered
subtraction of exponents with the same bases, negative integer
SOFTWARE
exponents, and application of the laws to negative integer KNOWLEDGE
BASE
HINTS

exponents.
SOLVE
EXPONENTS
Teacher AICA can detect erratic user input (typographical error or SOFTWARE
DATA LOGS
invalid mathematical format) and ask student to correct errors.
Completing the necessary tasks in the two modes will lead to the READING
MATERIALS
solution interface where portions for placing solution steps are
located (see Figure 3-a). The student has to fill and correctly
answer the solution steps portion in order for another solution USER USER INTERFACE

LECTURES
portion to appear (see Figure 3-a). Wrong inputs will be detected
by Teacher AICA and prompt student to correct errors in input.
Wrong inputs committed thrice will make Teacher AICA gives a VIEW
hint in order for the user to solve the problem (see Figure 3-b). HISTORY USER MANUAL

Hints are not descriptive in nature, but can make the user get the
idea on how to solve the problem. Tapping the given hint will not
ABOUT US
affect the student’s current progress in the app. HELP

There are two types of hint the student can utilize: ‘Reading CHECK FOR

Material’ or ‘Lecture’. Wrong inputs committed five times will UPDATES

make Teacher AICA shows the answer to the problem. However,

she warns the student of forfeiture in solving the problem which DEVELOPERS
will reflect on user’s performance. The application also has the EXTERNAL
WEBSITE
AND
DESIGNERS

capability to abort solving the current problem and return to the

choosing of mode interface. When all solution steps are satisfied,
Teacher AICA will commend the students for their aptitude and Figure 4. System Framework
skill.
The View History section is the part of the application that stores
3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are thankful to Dr. Ester A. Garcia, Dr. Linda P.
the interface log activities of the students. The Help Section will
Santiago, Dr. Olivia C. Caoili, Rodany A. Merida, Rosario
Capellan Santos, Dr. Helen Grace V. Go, Dr. Nida P. Andrada, computing exponents. Journal of Mathematical
and Rossana A. Lagan. This paper is funded by the University of Behavior,26,301-311.
the East. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2007.11.003
[6] Rogers, Y., Price, S., Fitzpatrick, G., Fleck, R., Harris, E.,
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