Scaffolds and Nudges: A Case Study in Learning Engineering Design Improvements

We present a brief case study of a multi-year learning engineering effort to iteratively redesign the problem-solving experience of students using the “Solving Quadratic Equations” workspace in Carnegie Learning’s MATHia intelligent tutoring system. We consider two design changes, one involving additional scaffolds for the problem-solving task and the next involving a “nudge” for learners to more rapidly and readily engage with these scaffolds and discuss resulting changes in the relative proportion of students who fail to master skills associated with this workspace over the course of two school years.