Dr. Kurt Steuck
Air Force Research Laboratory/HEAI

Since 1990, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), with strong support from the other AFRL research sites in Phillips, NM, Rome NY, and Wright, OH, as well as the University of Texas at San Antonio, has been engaged in a long-term research project. This project brings state-of-the-art intelligent tutoring technology to bear on our nation's growing literacy skills problems in areas such as mathematics, writing, evaluation and transfer prototype intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) to public schools and, when appropriate, to industry under federal technology transfer guidelines.

The first tutor, the Word Problem Solving Tutor (WPS), teaches general problem solving strategies, as well as how to solve specific word problems. WPS has been tested since 1992 in some of the largest field studies of educational technology ever conducted. Students at secondary and middle schools in Ohio, Texas, New Mexico, New York and Pennsylvania participated in these studies. Students using the math tutor improved their word problem solving skills up to 29%. This outcome is highly significant in that it matches or exceeds similar effects reported in the research literature.

MAESTRO, the Writing Process Tutor is the second program. It facilitates the development of basic writing process skills. This tutor guides students through the prewriting, drafting, revision and editing phases of the writing process, while helping them structure writing activities and develop the cognitive skills used in writing. Full-scale field evaluations in over 20 schools, representing a wide variety of student populations including one community college, began in September 1993. Results over the last six years show students who used the writing tutor improved their overall skills up to 26%.

The third tutor, Instruction in Scientific Inquiry Skills (ISIS), focuses on the development of students' scientific inquiry skills. ISIS teaches the scientific method using ecology as the domain content. Evaluation of this tutor began in October 1994 and is ongoing in over 25 schools across the nation. Research findings indicate that students who used the science tutor improved their scientific inquiry skills up to 11%.

The Government and public education play significant roles in this research effort. Our current partnerships include a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRDA) between the Human Effectiveness Directorate of AFRL and the University of Texas at San Antonio. AFRL collaborates with 40 schools in Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania on the implementation of these tutoring systems. In 1997, AFRL began a long-term collaboration with the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA). This collaboration has formed the foundation of a follow- up project, the Sustainable Intelligent Training Systems for Global Mission Applications (SIGMA) project.

In the SIGMA project, AFRL is developing and evaluating the delivery of intelligent training systems via the Internet. The initial effort in this project is to develop and test an internet-based version of MAESTRO: The Writing Process tutor. In order to fully investigate the use of intelligent tutors in adult education and training settings, AFRL has implemented the FST software in six Job Corps Centers in Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio, Minnesota and Arkansas. For these and other adult education settings, AFRL has extended the curriculum of the writing tutor to include instruction on forms of practical writing: business letters, memos, electronic mail and cover letters for job applications. When the Internet version of the writing tutor is available, the DOLETA funded centers will participate in the evaluation studies.