A Systematic Review of Literature on the Effectiveness of Intelligent Tutoring Systems in STEM

Intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) have shown to be useful learning aids for helping students learn STEM subjects. Previous studies on ITS tend to focus on developmental aspects of the system, such as system design, programming architecture, and dialogue moves. In this systemic literature review, we focus on pedagogical aspects of ITS within STEM domains. Specifically, we identified the implemented scaffolding approach and the grounding on learning theories of ITS implementations. Specific research questions were: (1) what types of knowledge (i.e., conceptual learning, problem-solving, and model building) are delivered via an ITS within STEM domains? (2) what pedagogies or scaffolding methods are used to guide the ITS learning experiences? (3) what are the characteristics of the research designs and specific learning outcomes when learning with the ITS? The steps followed for performing this systematic literature review were: (1) identifying the scope and research questions, (2) defining the inclusion and exclusion search criteria of literature, and (3) classifying and cataloging the literature sources that use ITS for STEM in classroom research. The final data set is comprised of a total of 22 papers that meet our criteria. We found a lack of fine-grained research on the effectiveness of using ITS to improve the three major learning modes: conceptual learning, problem-solving, and model building, particularly in STEM domains. In addition, we recommend that research conducted on ITS and other learning technology aids should emphasize the utilization of well-established learning theories and pedagogical scaffolding methods so that ITS will be more accessible to STEM educators for introducing ITS to their students to better learn STEM subjects.