Evaluating the Educational Impact of a Tutoring Hypermedia for Children

Several hypermedia environments have been developed in the last few years with the intention of promoting the acquisi- tion of knowledge on a wide range of topics and developing problem-solving abilities. However, there are many different and sometimes conflicting claims about the capability of these environments to promote meaningful learning. We have developed a hypermedia learning environment with a tutorial component that exploits Artificial Intelligence tech- niques. This hypermedia, called Logiocando, targets a special category of users, namely children of the fourth level of pri- mary school (9-10 years old), to teach them basic concepts of logic. Two empirical evaluations of the educational impact of Logiocando have been performed. Such experiments com- pared two teaching approaches: the computer-based one that relies on the hypermedia system, and the traditional one that relies on classroom instruction. The studies involved a total of 94 pupils from a primary school. Results showed that Lo- giocando can certainly be considered a valid support in the process of learning and deepening logic knowledge, provided that children are adequately motivated.