Ontology Reasoning for Explanatory Feedback Generation to Teach how Algorithms Work

Anton Anikin, Oleg Aleksandrovich Sychev, Mikhail Denisov

Keywords: Ontology reasoning, Constraint-based tutoring systems, Program execution trace, Error detection

TL;DR: We developed an online tutoring tool for using ontology reasoning to grade students' answers and generate explanatory feedback about their errors in program execution traces for introductory programming learning.

Abstract: Developing algorithms using control structures and understanding their building blocks are essential skills in mastering programming. In this work, we applied a formal model and reasoning rules for Jena reasoner to build execution trace for the given algorithm and find fault reasons if the student provides an incorrect answer. Using formal reasoner to check domain constraints allowed us to provide explanatory feedback for every type of error students can make.