AnimalWatch-ELL

Students who are learning English often score lower on math tests than their English-primary peers. In addition, math teachers do not always receive specific training in working with English Language Learners (ELLs).

We are currently studying the problem solving strategies of students who are learning English, using word problems from the AnimalWatch online math tutoring system. The word problems vary in the number of words, inclusion of unusual vocabulary items, and overall grade-level readability. We will use the results to adapt the AnimalWatch tutoring system to help ELLs improve their math skills.

AnimalWatch-ELL will include an online tutorial in English “math language” and interactive support to help students form equations from English word problem text. New professional development resources for math teachers are also being added.

RAND-Education serves as the external evaluator for formative and summative project activities, under the direction of Dr. Matthew Lewis.

Support for the AnimalWatch-ELL project is provided by a research grant from the National Science Foundation (DRL 0822391/0940201).