The Intertwined Histories of
Artificial Intelligence and Education
Shayan Doroudi
Despite their differences, both strands were united in trying to simultaneously understand learning in humans and machines.
Takeaways
Early pioneers of AI were cognitive scientists who also conducted and influenced education research.
There were two strands that took different approaches to research at the intersection of AI and education.
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2
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AIED today largely builds on only one of these strands.
1956
Dartmouth Workshop
"Dartmouth Tetrad": Herbert Simon, Allen Newell, Marvin Minsky, & John McCarthy
1956
Dartmouth Workshop
1956
Herb Simon and Allen Newell create the
Logic Theorist
1956
1970
Simon and Newell publish “Human Problem Solving: The State of the Theory in 1970”
"The theory of problem solving described here gives us a new basis for attacking the psychology of education and the learning process. It allows us to describe in detail the information and programs that the skilled performer possesses, and to show how they permit him to perform successfully."
Establish information-processing psychology (or cognitivism) as dominant learning theory in psychology and education.
Simon and Newell's colleagues conduct decades of work on cognitive tutors.
Herb Simon and Allen Newell create the
Logic Theorist
Simon, H. A., & Newell, A. (1971). Human problem solving: The state of the theory in 1970. American Psychologist, 26(2), 145.
1967
Newell started working on Merlin, an intelligent tutoring system to teach graduate AI!
Simon coined the term "learning engineering"
"the effort transmuted into one of building a program that would understand artificial intelligence"
1996
Simon and colleagues wrote a famous article in Educational Researcher defending cognitivism and arguing against situated learning
1970
Herb Simon and Allen Newell create the
Logic Theorist
Simon and Newell publish “Human Problem Solving: The State of the Theory in 1970”
1956
Simon, H. A. (1967). Job of a college president. Educational Record, 48(1), 68–78.
Moore, J., & Newell, A. (1974). How can Merlin understand? In L. W. Gregg (Ed.), Knowledge and Cognition. Psychology Press.
1956
1967
Newell started working on Merlin
Simon coined the term "learning engineering"
1970
Herb Simon and Allen Newell create the
Logic Theorist
Simon and Newell publish “Human Problem Solving: The State of the Theory in 1970”
Marvin Minsky joins faculty at MIT
Seymour Papert goes to Geneva to study with Jean Piaget
1958
1956
1967
Newell started working on Merlin
Simon coined the term "learning engineering"
1970
Herb Simon and Allen Newell create the
Logic Theorist
Simon and Newell publish “Human Problem Solving: The State of the Theory in 1970”
1964
Marvin Minsky joins faculty at MIT
Seymour Papert goes to Geneva to study with Jean Piaget
1958
Papert joins Minsky at MIT to work on AI from a constructivist perspective
"I made the transition because I believed that my new world of machines could provide a perspective that might lead to solutions to problems that had eluded us in the old world of children."
Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas. Basic Books, Inc.
1967
Newell started working on Merlin
Simon coined the term "learning engineering"
1970
Herb Simon and Allen Newell create the
Logic Theorist
Simon and Newell publish “Human Problem Solving: The State of the Theory in 1970”
1964
Papert joins Minsky at MIT to work on AI from a constructivist perspective
1967
Papert and colleagues create the Logo programming language
Computational Thinking
Scratch
Constructionism
New ways of thinking about learning and education inspired by Piaget and AI
1956
Marvin Minsky joins faculty at MIT
Seymour Papert goes to Geneva to study with Jean Piaget
1958
1956
Newell started working on Merlin
Simon coined the term "learning engineering"
Herb Simon and Allen Newell create the
Logic Theorist
Marvin Minsky joins faculty at MIT
Seymour Papert goes to Geneva to study with Jean Piaget
1958
1967
Papert and colleagues create the Logo programming language
1967
1985
Second International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Education
"The 1985 conference ended with the exciting prospect of the ‘coming together’ of the two traditional streams of ‘tutoring systems’ and ‘learning environments’ to address common problems in the design of instructional systems from an Artificial Intelligence perspective."
Lawler, R., & Yazdani, M. (1987). Artificial intelligence and education: Learning environments and tutoring systems (Vol. 1). Intellect Books.
1956
Newell started working on MERLIN
Simon coined the term "learning engineering"
Herb Simon and Allen Newell create the
Logic Theorist
Marvin Minsky joins faculty at MIT
Seymour Papert goes to Geneva to study with Jean Piaget
1958
1967
Papert and colleagues create the Logo programming language
1967
1985
Second International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Education
"it was clear that a new interest group had emerged; one which was committed neither primarily to AI nor to education matters, but to matters which fall into the overlap between them. Both subjects show an interest in knowledge acquisition (be it people or machines) and they need a theoretical framework in which to study learning and teaching processes. They can also help each other in many ways."
Yazdani, M., & Lawler, R. W. (1986). Artificial intelligence and education: An overview. Instructional Science, 14(3), 197–206.
1956
Newell started working on MERLIN
Simon coined the term "learning engineering"
Herb Simon and Allen Newell create the
Logic Theorist
Marvin Minsky joins faculty at MIT
Seymour Papert goes to Geneva to study with Jean Piaget
1958
1967
Papert and colleagues create the Logo programming language
1967
1985
Second International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Education
1987
Situated learning emerges as a learning theory in reaction to AI and cognitivism
1956
Newell started working on MERLIN
Simon coined the term "learning engineering"
Herb Simon and Allen Newell create the
Logic Theorist
Marvin Minsky joins faculty at MIT
Seymour Papert goes to Geneva to study with Jean Piaget
1958
1967
Papert and colleagues create the Logo programming language
1967
1985
Second International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Education
1987
1991
The fifth AIED conference gets rebranded as the first International Conference of the Learning Sciences by Roger Schank — also a leading AI researcher.
Situated learning emerges as a learning theory in reaction to AI and cognitivism
1956
Newell started working on MERLIN
Simon coined the term "learning engineering"
Herb Simon and Allen Newell create the
Logic Theorist
Marvin Minsky joins faculty at MIT
Seymour Papert goes to Geneva to study with Jean Piaget
1958
1967
Papert and colleagues create the Logo programming language
1967
1985
Second International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Education
1987
1991
The fifth AIED conference gets rebranded as the first International Conference of the Learning Sciences by Roger Schank — also a leading AI researcher.
The IAIED Society forms and AIED conferences continue
ICLS conferences continue
Over time, NEITHER community was concerned with the interdisciplinary study of learning in humans and machines.
Situated learning emerges as a learning theory in reaction to AI and cognitivism
Takeaways
1
2
3
How can AIED build upon the constructivist/situated strand?
How can we return to the intertwined study of human and machine learning?
There were two strands that took different approaches to research at the intersection of AI and education.
AIED today largely builds on only one of these strands.
Despite their differences, both strands were united in trying to simultaneously understand learning in humans and machines.
Early pioneers of AI were cognitive scientists who also conducted and influenced education research.
The Intertwined Histories of AI and Education - AIED 2023
By Shayan Doroudi
