System and method for generating and providing educational exercises

• US 20040234936A1
• Filed: 05/21/2004
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gradiance Corporation
• Original Assignee: Gradiance Corporation
• Inventors: Yerneni, Ramana V., Ullman, Jeffrey D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,377,785 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/322
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student

Abstract

A system and method for generating and administering classroom exercises to a student. One or more root questions is generated, where each root question has a stem, a plurality of right answers, and a plurality of wrong answers. A multiple-choice question instance is created by combining the stem with a set of answer choices that are created from one of the right answers and one or more of the wrong answers. The questions are administered to a student. Preferably, the sets of questions based on the same root questions are administered one or more times to the student—e.g., a student may be required to work three sets of question instances based on the same set of root questions, or may be required to continue working new sets of question instances until all of the questions in one set are answered correctly.

Claims

1. A method of teaching a subject matter comprising:

administering a first set of one or more question instances to a student, said first set of one or more question instances being based on;

(1) source information that relates to the subject matter, and (2) one or more rules that govern derivation of question instances from said source information;

evaluating said student'"'"'s performance on said first set of one or more question instances; and

if said student'"'"'s performance on said first set of one or more question instances does not meet a standard, then repeating said administering and evaluating acts until said student'"'"'s performance meets said standard, wherein each repetition of said administering and evaluating steps is performed with a new set of question instances that is different from said first set of question instances and different from any new set of question instances that has been already been administered to said student, and wherein each new set of question instances is based on;

(1) source information that relates to the subject matter, and (2) one or more rules that govern derivation of question instances from said source information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said source information comprises a stem, a set of correct answers to said stem, and a set of incorrect answers to said stem, and wherein said one or more rules comprises a rule that a question instance is formed by combining said stem, one of said correct answers, and a predetermined number of incorrect answer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said standard comprises requiring said student to answer every question instance in a set of question instances correctly.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if said student'"'"'s performance does not meet said standard, then providing an explanation relating to a question instance that said student answered incorrectly.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

imposing a limit on the repetition of said administering act.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said limit comprises a maximum number of times that said administering act can be performed.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said limit comprises a maximum frequency, with respect to time, that said administering act can be performed.

8. A computer-readable medium encoded with information comprising:

source data from which question instances relating to a subject matter are derivable;

one or more rules that govern derivation of said question instances from said source data; and

software that uses said one or more rules to derive question instances from said source data, and that administers one or more sets of derived question instances to a student.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein said source data comprises a stem, a set of correct answers to said stem, and a set of incorrect answers to said stem, and wherein said one or more rules comprises a rule that a question instance is formed by combining said stem, one of said correct answers, and a predetermined number of said incorrect answers.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein said software evaluates said student'"'"'s performance on the one or more sets of derived question instances, and provides explanations relating to at least those question instances that said student answers incorrectly.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein said software further evaluates said student'"'"'s performance on a set of the derived question instances, and that administers said one or more sets by acts comprising:

administering a first one of said sets of derived question instances to said student;

evaluating said student'"'"'s performance on said first one of said sets of derived question instances; and

if said student'"'"'s performance on said first, one of said sets of derived question instances does not meet a standard, then recurrently administering one or more new sets of derived question instances until said student'"'"'s performance on a new set of derived question instances meets said standard.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said standard comprises a requirement that said student answer every question instance in a set of derived question instances correctly.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said software imposes a limit on the recurrence of administering sets of derived question instances.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein said limit comprises a maximum number of times that administration of sets of question instances can recur.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein said limit comprises a maximum frequency, with respect to time, that administration of sets of question instances can recur.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein said software provides an interface through which a teacher can perform acts comprising any one or more of the following:

adding new source data for use by said software to derive new question instances;

changing a standard, wherein said standard measures said student'"'"'s performance on a set of derived question instances; and

changing a limit, wherein said limit governs recurrence on administration of sets of derived question instances.

17. A method of creating a student exercise comprising:

creating base information that comprises or implies a set or range of facts;

deriving a first set of question instances based on said set or range of facts;

presenting said first set of question instances to a student;

obtaining said student'"'"'s answers to said first set of question instances;

evaluating said student'"'"'s performance on said first set of question instances; and

if said student'"'"'s performance on said first set of question instances does not meet said standard, then performing the following;

deriving a new set of question instances based on said set or range of facts;

performing said presenting, obtaining, and evaluating acts with said new set of question instances in place of said first set of questions,

until said student'"'"'s performance on a new set of question instances meets said standard.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said base information comprises a stem, a set of correct answers to said stem, and a set of incorrect answers to said stem, and wherein said deriving acts are performed by combining said stem, one of said correct answers, and a predetermined number of said incorrect answers.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said standard comprises a requirement that said student answer correctly every question instance in either said first set of question instances or in one of the new sets of question instances.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

imposing a limit on the presenting of sets of question instances to said student.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said limit comprises a maximum number of sets of question instances that may be presented to said student.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein said limit comprises a maximum frequency, with respect to time, that sets of question instances may be presented to said student.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

providing explanation of answers to said sets of question instances to said student.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

receiving said explanations of said answers as input from an instructor.

25. A computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions to perform a method of providing an exercise to a student, the method comprising:

deriving a plurality of question instances from a set of source information, said source information comprising or implying a set or range of facts, said questions being answerable with knowledge about said set or range of facts;

presenting a first set of said plurality of question instances to a student;

receiving said student'"'"'s answers to said first set of said plurality of question instances;

if said student'"'"'s performance on said plurality of question instances does not satisfy a standard, then repeatedly presenting different sets of said plurality of question instances until said student'"'"'s performance on a presented set satisfies said standard.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein said source information comprises a stem, a set of correct answers to said stem, and a set of incorrect answers to said stem, and wherein said question instances comprise said stem, one of said correct answers, and a predetermined number of said incorrect answers.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein said standard comprises a requirement that said student answer all question instances in a set of question instances correctly.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, further comprising:

providing explanations of question instances that said student has answered incorrectly.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, further comprising:

enforcing a limit on the presentation of sets of question instances to students, wherein the limit comprises one or more of the following;

a limit on the number of sets of question instances that may be presented to said student; and

a limit on the frequency, with respect to time, with which sets of question instances may be presented to said student.

30. A system for teaching a subject matter comprising:

a teaching tool that describes the subject matter;

data that comprises;

source information relating to the subject matter that comprises or implies a set or range of facts about which question instances can be derived;

software that performs acts comprising;

deriving, from said source information, a set of question instances that are answerable with knowledge of said set of facts;

presenting said set of question instances to a student;

receiving said student'"'"'s answers to said set of question instances; and

evaluating said student'"'"'s performance on said set of question instances to determine whether said student'"'"'s performance meets a standard.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein said source information comprises a stem, a set of correct answers to said stem, and a set of incorrect answers to said stem, and wherein said deriving act comprises combining said stem, one of said correct answers, and a predetermined number of said incorrect answers.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein said teaching tool comprises a book about said subject matter.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein said data is provided on a computer-readable medium that accompanies said teaching tool.

34. The system of claim 30, wherein said software performs acts further comprising:

if said student'"'"'s performance on said set of question instances does not meet said standard, then repeatedly presenting different sets of question instances derived from said source information to said student until said student'"'"'s performance on a set of question instances meets said standard.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein said software performs acts further comprising:

imposing a limit on the repeated presentation of different sets of question instances to said student, wherein said limit comprises one or more of the following;

a maximum number of sets of question instances that may be presented to said student; and

a maximum frequency, with respect to time, with which different sets of question instances may be presented to said student.

36. The system of claim 30, wherein said standard comprises a requirement that said student answer every question instance in a set of question instances correctly.