As a middle school teacher, it is not uncommon to teach a lesson; instantly, many hands go up. In my experience, I’ve often found students don’t even have a question and just want confirmation, this can take away from the students who are struggling and need assistance. Many children cannot get the one on one or small group support they need as teachers have to appeal to all students.
MathChat is an AI tutor built to give students the clarification they need so the teacher can direct their resources to students who need a bit more direction. MathChat has the answer keys of the entire curriculum loaded into it (and more can be added) and guides students through the problem step by step. The bot starts by asking the student their name and will not move on until a name is provided, this helps teachers check the chat history to see specifically what a student may be struggling with. Once a name is provided the student will tell the bot which worksheet they want to work on and the bot will instantly retrieve the pdf and list all the problems, the student can then select a specific problem. The Bot walks through the problem step by step and NEVER provides the answer it only provides hints, it will only move on if the student is correct. The bot also has guard rails in place as to not answer anything non-math related and will instantly redirect the student.
MathChat is meant not to replace teacher instructions but to provide clarification for students needing confirmation. It’s also useful when a student is sent home with homework and a parent may not be equipped to assist their student with the concepts they are learning. The hope is that this ChatBot can show teachers how AI can impact education while leaving it regulated and controlled as a tool rather than a crutch to make learning simpler for both the student and the teacher.
