Strategy-Oriented Feedback for Fostering Systematic Problem-Solving in Machine Learning Education

Research output: Contribution to book/Conference proceedings/Anthology/Report › Conference contribution › Contributed › peer-review

Abstract

Enabling students to develop systematic problem-solving strategies is a central goal in computing education and of particular relevance in the emerging field of machine learning (ML) education. While exploratory approaches are common in ML learning tasks, fostering the development and persistence of structured problem-solving strategies remains challenging, as these demand considerable metacognitive regulation and persistence, causing learners to often revert to exploratory trial-and-error behavior. To address this challenge, we augmented a digital puzzle-based learning game for decision tree construction with an adaptive feedback module generating individualized messages based on the continuous evaluation of learners' problem-solving strategies. Building on an earlier baseline study, the present work investigates how this strategy-oriented feedback shapes students' problem-solving processes. For this purpose, screencast video data and gameplay logs (N = 205, ≈ 55 hours of gameplay footage) are used to enable fine-grained insights into learners' strategic behavior, its persistence, and transitions. The findings demonstrate how strategy-oriented feedback can support the development of structured problem-solving skills in decision tree construction and inform the design of ML learning environments that foster transferable competencies in secondary computing education.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationWiPSCE '26: Proceedings of the 20th WiPSCE Conference on Primary and Secondary Computing Education Research
EditorsNadine Bergner, Tilman Michaeli, Andrej Brodnik
Pages1-11
ISBN (electronic)979-8-4007-2502-9
Publication statusPublished - 11 Mar 2026
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0003-4725-9776/work/224857549
ORCID /0009-0005-8160-4029/work/224858889
ORCID /0000-0002-8477-1464/work/224859002
unpaywall 10.1145/3801749.3801764
Scopus 105049062387

Keywords

Keywords

  • Adaptive Feedback, Decision Tree Learning, Machine Learning Education, Problem-Solving Strategies, Secondary Computing Education