Re: [Tuxmath-devel] GSoC project on "Personalized, adaptive game-play to improve learning in Tuxmath"

[Tim H. <ho...@wu...>]

Hi Siddarth,

I like it very much. Some concrete feedback, mostly a set of questions asking 
for more detail:

1. When you say, "topic suggestion," are you thinking of some interactive 
interface from which the user chooses a task? Or is the "suggestion" an 
internal one, and the game will execute whatever parameters are suggested?

2. What are your thoughts about per-user storage? Are you going to employ the 
Linux model (store in the user's home directory), or are you going to use the 
infrastructure in the "school mode"? Or are you planning on not saving data 
across sessions at all? (Without saving, it will be hard to test and debug, so 
I don't recommend the latter.)

3. I have the sense that kids differ quite a lot in terms of how much negative-
outcome they can tolerate: some will plunge right back in after they lose all 
their igloos, others will be bothered if even a single igloo gets hit by a 
comet. Those that enjoy the tension will appreciate being challenged, those 
that do not will probably feel more comfortable if they are consistently 
performing at 95% or higher.
It would be really interesting if it were possible to model not just the 
student's mastery, but also what level of failure/challenge is acceptable to 
the student. Naturally, this seems hard. One option would be to ask for 
feedback from the student, and a second might be to pay attention to the 
latency in re-starting a new game of tuxmath. If it is a few seconds, the kid 
seems ready for more. If it's a few months, perhaps the kid got scared off. But 
obviously it's questionable how reliable such information will be.

4. In your section on "modifying the game variables," certainly the speed is 
an important parameter. But a more interesting---and more conceptually 
challenging---issue is how to decide which _type_ of problems to pose. Is the 
kid ready for addition facts up to 10, or should we stick with 0 to 5? How can 
you tell when the kid is ready for multiplication?

5. Given this tuxmath-as-the-teacher mode of thinking, do we need to think 
somewhat about creating mechanisms to explicitly teach, rather than just let 
them practice things they've already been taught?

Again, it looks like lots of fun ahead. I'm glad you're tackling this.

Best,
--Tim

On Friday, May 20, 2011 07:43:52 am Siddharth Kothari wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I made a blog (gscbbn.wordpress.com) which I will keep updating the details
> with regards to the project.
> 
> I would appreciate a feedback. The approach and deliverables are tentative,
> let me know if there is something I should incorporate.
> 
> Thanks,
> Siddharth
> 
> On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 10:11 PM, Tim Holy <ho...@wu...> wrote:
> > On Wednesday, April 27, 2011 08:01:22 am Siddharth Kothari wrote:
> > > Hi everyone,
> > > 
> > > My project proposal on "Personalized, adaptive game-play to improve
> > > learning in Tuxmath" has been accepted in GSoC
> > > (link<
> > 
> > http://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/project/google/gsoc2011/sidi/14001
> > 
> > > >). Bart Massey from PSU will be my mentor who would be helping me in
> > > >the
> > > 
> > > design of the Bayesian network for knowledge representation and making
> > > inferences based on it. I look forward to the Tuxmath community members
> > 
> > to
> > 
> > > have discussions regarding the implementation details, and some
> > 
> > occasional
> > 
> > > code-related help. I will start exploring the code-base in about a week
> > > once my semester exams are over.
> > 
> > That's great! Congrats!
> > 
> > --Tim
> > 
> > 
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ----- WhatsUp Gold - Download Free Network Management Software
> > The most intuitive, comprehensive, and cost-effective network
> > management toolset available today.  Delivers lowest initial
> > acquisition cost and overall TCO of any competing solution.
> > http://p.sf.net/sfu/whatsupgold-sd
> > _______________________________________________
> > Tuxmath-devel mailing list
> > Tux...@li...
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/tuxmath-devel