TAP: a software architecture for an inquiry dialogue-based tutoring system

In the tutoring agenda planner (TAP) project, we study the feasibility of implementing the inquiry teaching method of Collins and Stevens (1991) as tutoring software. This paper describes the software architecture for TAP-1-a simple inquiry tutoring shell based on the theory of inquiry teaching. The inquiry teaching style has the objective of teaching scientific reasoning skills through a “localized” sequence of well-planned inquiry dialogue. To complement the “localized” dialogue planning framework inherent in the theory of inquiry teaching, the TAP-1 architecture has adopted the “global” curriculum planning technique. TAP-1 has successfully demonstrated the inquiry teaching style through an inquiry planner within an intelligent tutoring system shell. In addition, PADI-a geography tutor that delivers inquiry teaching style-has been implemented using TAP-1. A group of students performed well in an evaluation activity of the tutor. They also foresaw the potential of TAP for achieving the aim of cultivating scientific thoughts