Alum changes schools with 'thinking computers'
Anna Millman
Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: Campus News
Computers can come in handy when learning math, but they usually aren't the main teaching source. Steve Ritter '85, however, is relying on computers and using cognitive science to develop educational programs to help middle school students learn math, starting with pre-algebra and up. The program Cognitive Tutor, which Ritter has worked on for 15 years, is now incorporated into the curriculums of more than 1,300 schools around the country.
"I think the (Cognitive Tutor) program has been really successful for a couple reasons, partly because of the technological aspect, but also because of a growing awareness that the schools need to be better," Ritter said.
Ritter graduated from Brown with a degree in cognitive science before getting a doctorate in cognitive psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. He initially studied computer science with a pragmatic aim in mind, he said. "I first took computer science freshman year, and I ended up taking another class second semester because I'd heard that you could get a good summer job if you had two computer science classes."
At Carnegie Mellon, Ritter studied and worked with John Anderson, a professor of psychology and computer science, on the ACT-R project using the ACT-R computer language to create a computer model of human cognition.
In order to make the findings on how people learn more applicable to everyday life, Ritter helped devise what would become Cognitive Tutor.
"The primary origin of the Cognitive Tutor approach was building a model of the way students think," Ritter said.
The original research group working on the program was composed of researchers with backgrounds in cognitive science and computer science. None of them had any formal background in education, Ritter said, but the group was focused on applying cognitive science, in particular, to solve problems in education.
The research group started its work in 1992 at Carnegie Mellon. The opening of the project required research into schools as systems, how students are impacted by their school environment and the teacher-student dynamic. "To create the program we did a lot of intensive research. We were looking to understanding what types of things teachers and students had issues with - also the whole social and political environment at schools," Ritter said.
"I think the (Cognitive Tutor) program has been really successful for a couple reasons, partly because of the technological aspect, but also because of a growing awareness that the schools need to be better," Ritter said.
Ritter graduated from Brown with a degree in cognitive science before getting a doctorate in cognitive psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. He initially studied computer science with a pragmatic aim in mind, he said. "I first took computer science freshman year, and I ended up taking another class second semester because I'd heard that you could get a good summer job if you had two computer science classes."
At Carnegie Mellon, Ritter studied and worked with John Anderson, a professor of psychology and computer science, on the ACT-R project using the ACT-R computer language to create a computer model of human cognition.
In order to make the findings on how people learn more applicable to everyday life, Ritter helped devise what would become Cognitive Tutor.
"The primary origin of the Cognitive Tutor approach was building a model of the way students think," Ritter said.
The original research group working on the program was composed of researchers with backgrounds in cognitive science and computer science. None of them had any formal background in education, Ritter said, but the group was focused on applying cognitive science, in particular, to solve problems in education.
The research group started its work in 1992 at Carnegie Mellon. The opening of the project required research into schools as systems, how students are impacted by their school environment and the teacher-student dynamic. "To create the program we did a lot of intensive research. We were looking to understanding what types of things teachers and students had issues with - also the whole social and political environment at schools," Ritter said.