Model-Based Methods for Assessment, Learning, and Instruction: Innovative Educational Technology at Florida State University

In this chapter, we describe our research and development efforts relating to eliciting, representing, and analyzing how individuals and small groups conceptualize complex problems. The methods described herein have all been developed and are in various states of being validated. In addition, the methods we describe have been automated and most have been integrated in an online modelbased set of tools called HIMATT (Highly Interactive Model-based Assessment Tools and Technologies; available for research purposes at http://himatt.ezw.unifreiburg.de/cgi-bin/hrun/himatt.pl and soon to be available on a server at Florida State University). HIMATT continues to expand in terms of the tools and technologies included. Our methods and tools represent an approach to learning and instruction that is now embedded in many of the graduate courses at Florida State University and also at the University of Freiburg. We call our approach model-based because it integrates representations of mental models and internal cognitive processes with tools that are used to (a) assess progress of learning, and (b) provide the basis for informative and reflective feedback during instruction.