The Future of Classroom Experimentation

With access to some of the best digital tools and learning systems ever seen, it's a wonder that there is currently no easy way for teachers to conduct experiments to see what is working best in their classrooms. Carnegie Mellon University and its partners were recently awarded a nearly $3 million National Science Foundation grant to fund a new framework for adaptive experimentation in classrooms and digital learning spaces like CMU's (OLI) and the Carnegie Learning K-12 platform. In the following Q&A, John Stamper , an associate professor at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and the principal investigator (PI) on the project, expands on what his team of multidisciplinary researchers hopes to achieve. This interview has been edited and condensed. Q. Why is it important for teachers to be able to do experiments? A. Teachers of all kinds, from K-12, to college, to informal adult education instructors, already conduct experiments every day when they try different approaches to see what resonates with their students. We want to make it easy for them in a data-driven way that works with the learning platform they are already using. Q. Why is it hard? A. First, there is no one tool to facilitate this.