Talking Math: WPI Researcher Neil Heffernan Leads Effort To Develop AI Math Tutor
April 24 2024 - 12:45PM
Business Wire
+$4.1 Million Project Aims To Create Free
Tutoring Option for Low-Income Students Who Have Fallen Behind
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) researcher Neil Heffernan
has been awarded a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of
Education’s (DOE) Institute of Education Sciences to develop an
artificial intelligence (AI) tutor that can help middle-school
students learn math while doing homework.
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WPI Professor Neil Heffernan (Photo:
Business Wire)
Under a cost-sharing agreement, the DOE’s Institute of Education
Sciences will contribute $3,749,600, or 90.89 percent of the
funding, to the $4.1 million project, and WPI will contribute
$375,815, or the remaining 9.11 percent. The project will integrate
the AI tutor into ASSISTments, a free digital learning platform
that has been used by more than 1 million students across the
country and was developed by Heffernan and his wife, Cristina
Heffernan, a former math teacher. The project aims to address the
needs of students who have fallen behind in class but cannot afford
private tutoring services.
“Tutors are very effective at helping students learn math and
succeed in class, but the cost of private tutoring services is
beyond students from low-income backgrounds,” Neil Heffernan said.
“This leads to a persistent learning gap between lower-income
students and students from families that can afford tutoring. A
free AI tutor that students could access after school while doing
homework would help address this gap and enable lower-income
students who have fallen behind in class to catch up to their
peers, be more engaged with their lessons, and succeed as they
learn the concepts needed to advance to higher-level math.”
Heffernan, the William B. Smith Professor of Computer Science
and director of the Learning Sciences and Technologies Program at
WPI, will lead a team of psychology and learning science
researchers, teachers, and education experts to develop CAIT
(pronounced “Kate”), a Conversational AI Tutor that they will
integrate into ASSISTments and then test in classroom settings.
ASSISTments previously has been shown to positively impact
students’ math achievement and educational equity in an independent
evaluation of nearly 6,000 middle-school students in North
Carolina.
In addition to Heffernan, WPI researchers involved in the
project will include Assistant Professor Stacy Shaw of the
Department of Social Science and Policy Studies, Computer Science
Research Scientist Li Cheng, and Assistant Professor Adam Sales of
the Department of Mathematical Sciences. The WPI team will work
with the ASSISTments Foundation, an independent nonprofit
organization founded by the Heffernans to manage and market the
platform. WestEd, an education research organization, will evaluate
the use of CAIT in educational settings.
The project is possible because of recent advances in generative
AI, a type of artificial intelligence that uses complex algorithms
and is trained to find patterns in data in order to create new
material. CAIT will have a “conversational interface” powered by
natural language processing, a field of AI that enables machines to
understand and generate human language. As a result, students will
be able to speak or write questions for CAIT, and CAIT will respond
with personalized replies. By monitoring students' work, CAIT will
be able to identify challenges each student is encountering and
provide encouragement and additional problems for students to
solve.
The researchers will develop CAIT so it can run on mobile phones
and low-cost computers with Internet access, much like the devices
already used in schools. They also will develop CAIT to interact
with students in encouraging, empathetic, and supportive
language.
“We are excited to work with WPI to implement generative AI into
ASSISTments in such a meaningful and safe way," said Cristina
Heffernan, executive director of the ASSISTments Foundation.
“Positive experiences with math can boost students’ self-esteem and
motivate them to keep going. This transformative solution will
enable students to learn their homework instead of just ‘doing’ the
problems.”
About WPI
WPI is a top-tier STEM-focused research university and a
recognized pioneer and global leader in project-based learning.
Founded in 1865 on the principle that students learn most
effectively by applying the theory learned in the classroom to the
practice of solving real-world problems, WPI’s continued mission is
to transform lives, turn knowledge into action to confront global
challenges, and revolutionize STEM through distinctive and
inclusive education, projects, and research. WPI’s project-based
curriculum engages undergraduates in solving important scientific,
technological, and societal problems throughout their education and
at more than 50 project centers around the world. Today WPI offers
more than 70 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs
across 18 academic departments in science, engineering, technology,
business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts. Its
faculty and students pursue groundbreaking research to meet ongoing
challenges in health and biotechnology; robotics and the internet
of things; advanced materials and manufacturing; cyber, data, and
security systems; learning science; and more. www.wpi.edu
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Colleen Bamford Wamback Director of Public Relations Worcester
Polytechnic Institute 508-688-4858 (cell) cbwamback@wpi.edu