The project uses a cross-sectional and comparative research design and will generate evidence that is descriptive [design research and randomized/controlled] and causal [experimental]. Original data will be collected on 7th to 10th grade students in math classes in public schools, oversampling low achieving student populations, using assessments of learning and survey research [self-completion questionnaires and online].
Nine variations of the math tutoring system, addressing affect, context and meta-cognition, will be compared to the same system without those additions. Instruments or measures being used include the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for mathematics, AEQ-M, by Pekrun, Goetz, Frenzel (2005) University of Munich. The project will use Analysis of Variance for the affective repairs experiments. For the initial validation phase, a variety of techniques are applied, including linear regression, classifiers and pattern detection.
