Evaluation of a system that generates word problems through interactions with a user

Abstract

In mathematical learning, it is important to give learners a number of problems that have various features in both surface problem situations and deep mathematical solution structures. In this study, we implement a system that generates various word problems by using episodes, which are knowledge regarded as cases of problem generation. Our system interacts with a teacher as a user to acquire the common knowledge needed to generate word problems. We performed experimental evaluations to verify problem generation by our system, with the results indicating that our system can successfully expand the variety of problems from the initial ones stored in the system. We also found that our system needs interactions with a knowledgeable user because novice users cannot necessarily provide the system with effective knowledge. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.