IEP

Danny Robb IEP

Using Cognitive Tutor in the Classroom

            When I was first approached about incorporating Carnegie Learning’s Cognitive Tutor into my curriculum I was hesitant, to say the least.  Not being a fan of technology, I was uncertain if it would be a benefit to the students.  I wasn’t sure I had time to do the training necessary to implement the program.  My colleagues in the math department motivated me to give it a try, so I was pulled along into the 21^st Century.  I attended several hour-long training sessions to learn how to incorporate the program into my class curriculum.  This professional development truly enabled me to implement the program in my classroom.  I was able to set up my classes and student profiles.  (As I had feared, this was turning out to be just more paperwork for me and a “gadget” for entertaining the kids.)   I started my students on the first module, and spent the next two weeks dealing with the network and bandwidth problems.  It was an unmitigated disaster.  There were a few days where I would run myself ragged for the entire class period to get one or two out of twenty students logged on.  When we would get one problem fixed, another would pop up.  Between Apple updates (students upgrading iPhones on school Wi-Fi), Java updates, and students forgetting passwords, I was at my wit’s end.  All I could think was-“This is the biggest waste of instructional time, ever.”  I hated it, my students hated it, and I could not see one redeeming facet of using this in my curriculum.

            When we finally got all of the hardware/software problems “fixed”, I thought, “Well, at least I don’t have to make lesson plans for two days a week.”   The kids would jump through their hoops and I would be falling in line with the rest of the Math department.  It would be just another cross to bear.  Things bumped along relatively smoothly for the next few weeks.

            Then one night, while I was trying to prep for the next day’s lessons, I signed on to the website as a student-just to see why my kids were whining about the lessons so much and to see if they were actually making an effort to do the work.

            I spent the next two and a half hours enraptured.  It was one of the coolest things I had ever seen.  I worked through the first seven units that night before bed.  It gave me new insight into the material I was teaching, and inspired me to incorporate other things.  I immediately recognized the benefits of using this as a self-directed study (my favorite kind).  Students love the fact that cognitive tutor allows you to learn at your own pace and skip over the sections remembered, while reinforcing those lessons where extra support is needed.  I have since gone through the entire modules over Algebra I and II, and Geometry.  I am using this as my own professional directed study to help me pass the Praxis II Secondary Math exam.  It is more cost effective than expensive college classes, and I can work on it from home at my own pace.  I am pushing this program to anyone and everyone who will listen.  I love it.

            The only limiting factor is the individual student’s desire to learn.  They can only get out of this program what they put into it.  A student must be motivated and disciplined to get the full benefit of the lessons.  My less motivated students get frustrated easily and will lag behind.  The program makes the students think about the problems in a real-world context, and that can be daunting to students who have never had to utilize higher-order thinking skills.  (It has been a tough adjustment for some of my students, but they are realizing the benefits.)  The program also assumes a basic knowledge of mathematics.  These prerequisites are not always met, as every student’s skill level is different.  There are some who come to high school without mastery of even the basic multiplication tables.  Once the program assesses where the student’s mathematical skill level, it reinforces areas of weakness until the student shows competency.  As the student grows, the program grows with him. 

            I am so excited about sharing what I’ve learned about Cognitive Tutor; I have taken the liberty of setting my instructor up as a student in the Algebra I module.  As for the rest of you, I highly recommend you check it out for yourselves.