4. Conclusion

Cooperation between the Pittsburgh Urban Mathematics Project and the cognitive tutoring group at Carnegie Mellon has led to the development of the PAT tutor, and its integration into classrooms in three Pittsburgh Public Schools. As expected from past experience (Schofield, Evans-Rhodes, & Huber, 1990; Wertheimer, 1990), the tutor has been enthusiastically received by students and teachers. Teachers comment that working in the computer lab with PAT engages students who present difficulties in the normal classroom. In addition, teachers like the way that the tutor accommodates a large proportion of student questions and frees teachers to give more individualized help to students with particular needs. As one concrete example of teacher support, a teacher's enthusiastic testimonial of the program was critical in convincing the Pittsburgh school board to purchase computer labs to expand the program to two more high schools for the 1994-95 school year. Evaluation of PAT and the PUMP curriculum is continuing. In the 1994-95 school year, the PAT curriculum expanded to include 10 lessons and 214 problem situations. Students are in the computer lab two days a week, working with PAT at a self-paced rate. Student time on the tutor will more than double (roughly from 25 to 70 days) compared to the 93-94 school year.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by contract MDR-92-53161 from the National Science Foundation. Thanks to the teachers of the experimental and comparison classes. Thanks also to other key members of our Pittsburgh Advanced Cognitive Tutor center: Al Corbett, Ray Pelletier, Steve Ritter, Jackie Snyder.