The Giant: An Agent-Based Approach toKnowledge Construction and Sharing

May 1998

Proceedings of the Eleventh International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS 1998)

Volume

Proceedings of the Eleventh International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS 1998)

All Papers

The purpose of this paper is to report on a research project of a software agent, called the Giant, to support knowledge construction and sharing among learners. The Giant is embedded in an educational software tool used by students when collaborating across classrooms, throughout schools and countries, on a subject of study. Based on propositions being shared among the students, it automatically draws tentative conclusions and displays them to the user. At the user’s request the Giant presents explanations of its reasoning. It is anticipated that through the interaction with this software agent students will review and refine their own knowledge.