ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the empirical analyses of skill acquisition with a review of data from the LISP tutor. The simplicity of the ACT-R theory of skill acquisition is an important part of its theoretical claim. The chapter extends the generality of the results with the LISP tutor that were originally reported in, including a study of what happens when different tutoring modes are used in the LISP tutor. The discussion of skill acquisition is mainly devoted to reporting work collected with computer-based tutors. The chapter presents a more exhaustive and systematic analysis of data collected from the LISP tutor, in the fall of 1985 and the spring of 1986. It is also of interest to consider what the learning curves are like in the various tutoring modalities. The chapter shows the picture of learning a complex skill was every bit as simple. Learning individual production rules underlying a complex skill does not appear much different from learning simple paired associates.