Today, educational software is a set of applications for developing certain skills in students. But for the first time such systems appeared more than a hundred years ago - engineers and inventors have come a long way from imperfect mechanical "educational machines" to the first computers and algorithms. Let's talk about this in more detail.
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The first experiments - successful and not very
Educational software has its origins in the late XNUMXth century. For a long time, mentors and books remained the main source of knowledge. The educational process took too much time from teachers, and the results sometimes left much to be desired.
The successes of the Industrial Revolution led many to what seemed then to be an obvious conclusion: students could be taught faster and more efficiently if teachers were replaced with mechanical learning machines. Then the educational "conveyor" will allow to train specialists with less time. Today, attempts to mechanize this process look naive. But it was this βeducational steampunkβ that became the basis of modern technology.
First patent for a mechanical grammar learning device in 1866 the American Halcyon Skinner. The car was a box with two windows. In one of them, the student saw drawings (for example, a horse). In the second window, using the buttons, he typed the name of the object. But the system did not correct the errors and did not perform the check.
In 1911, psychologist Herbert Austin Aikins of Yale University patented a device for teaching arithmetic, reading and spelling. The student combined three wooden blocks with figured cutouts in a special wooden case. These blocks depicted, for example, elements of a simple arithmetic example. If the figures were chosen correctly, then the correct answer was formed in the upper part of the plates ().
In 1912, the American psychologist laid the foundation for new and more successful automated learning methods. (Edward Lee Thorndike) in Education. He considered the main drawback of textbooks to be the fact that students are left to their own devices. They may not pay attention to important points or, having not mastered the old material, move on to learning new things. Thorndike proposed a fundamentally different approach: a "mechanical book", in which the following sections are opened only after the previous ones have been properly completed.
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In Thorndike's voluminous work, the description of the device took He did not elaborate on his views. But this was enough that in 1924 Ohio University professor Sidney Pressey, inspired by the work of a psychologist, system for training - Automatic Teacher. On the drum of the machine, the student saw the question and the answer options. By pressing one of the four mechanical keys, he selected the correct one. After the drum scrolled and the device "offered" the next question. In addition, the counter marked the number of correct attempts.
In 1928 Pressy a patent for an invention, but did not fully implement Thorndike's idea. Automatic Teacher could not teach, but allowed you to quickly test knowledge.
Following Sidney Pressey, many inventors began to design new "teaching machines". They combined the experience of the 1936th century, the ideas of Thorndike and the technologies of the new century. Before XNUMX in the USA 700 different patents for "teaching machines". But later the Second World War began, work in this area was suspended and significant achievements had to wait for almost 20 years.
Frederick Skinner's Learning Machine
In 1954, Professor Burres Frederic Skinner of the University of Cambridge (Burrhus Frederic Skinner) formulated the basic principles for the study of grammar, mathematics and other subjects. Concept as a theory of programmed learning.
It states that the main component of the learning device should be a rigorous program with elements for learning and testing the material. The learning process itself is stepwise - the student does not go further until he has studied the desired topic and answered the control questions. That same year, Skinner introduced a "teaching machine" for use in schools.
Questions were printed on paper cards and shown "frame by frame" in a special window. The student typed the answer on the device keyboard. If the answer is correct, the machine punched a hole in the map. Skinner's system differed from analogues in the fact that after the first series of questions, the student again received only those that he could not answer. The cycle was repeated as long as there were unsolved problems. Thus, the device not only tested knowledge, but also taught students.
Soon the car was launched into mass production. Today, Skinner's invention is considered the first device in which it was possible to combine the results of theoretical research in educational psychology with the technological innovations of the time.
The PLATO system that has existed for 40 years
Based on the theory of programmed learning, in 1960 a 26-year-old engineer (Donald Bitzer), fresh from the University of Illinois, computer system PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations).
PLATO terminals were connected to the university mainframe . The display for them was a regular TV, and on the user's keyboard there were only 16 keys for navigation. University students could study several thematic courses.
Photo: / PD / Keyboard PLATO4
The first version of PLATO was experimental and had significant limitations: for example, the ability to work with it simultaneously for two users appeared only in 1961 (in an updated version of PLATO II). And in 1969, engineers introduced a special programming language to develop not only educational materials, but also games.
PLATO improved, and in 1970 the University of Illinois entered into an agreement with the Control Data Corporation. The device entered the commercial market.
Six years later, 950 terminals were already working with PLATO, and the total amount of courses was 12 thousand teaching hours in many university disciplines.
Today, the system is not used - it was turned off in 2000. However, the organization PLATO Learning (now Edmentum), which was responsible for promoting the terminals, is developing training courses.
"Can robots teach our children"
With the development of new teaching technologies in the 60s, criticism began, mainly in the popular American press. Newspaper and magazine headlines like "Teaching Machines: A Blessing or a Curse?" spoke for themselves. skeptics were reduced to three topics.
First, this is the insufficient methodological and technical training of teachers against the backdrop of a general shortage of personnel in American schools. Secondly, the high cost of equipment and a small number of training courses. So, the schools of one of the districts spent $ 5000 (a huge amount for those times), after which they discovered that there were not enough materials for full-fledged education.
Thirdly, the experts were concerned about the possible dehumanization of education. Too many enthusiasts have said that teachers will not be needed in the future.
Further developments showed that fears were unfounded: teachers did not turn into silent assistants to computers, the cost of equipment and software decreased, and the number of educational materials increased. But this happened only in the 80-90s of the XX century, when new developments appeared that overshadowed the successes of PLATO.
We will talk about these technologies next time.
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Source: habr.com