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Fig. 14.2
Merlin poses formative comprehension assessment questions during the iSTART
Introduction
are formative in the sense that the students are provided with hints and prompts when
they incorrectly answer the questions. Because these quizzes do not require dialogue
or vicarious learning, they were delivered by one agent (see Fig. 14.2).
Demonstration Module
The demonstration module is adapted from the demonstration video that students
watched during the SERT training. This module is designed to scaffold the learner as
they transition from acquiring strategy knowledge to applying those strategies with
real texts. Instead of seeing a video with peers, the iSTART demonstration mod-
ule uses two animated agents: a teacher/coach agent, Merlin, and a student agent,
Genie. These agents interact with and guide the students as they analyze example
explanations provided by the animated student agent (see Fig. 14.3). Genie acts as
a student by reading a sentence aloud and providing an example self-explanation.
Merlin provides feedback on Genie's explanation and then asks the learner to iden-
tify a strategy (or strategies) used within the explanation. Merlin may also ask the
student to click on a part of the explanation to identify where a specific strategy
was used. This interaction between Merlin and Genie is similar to the interaction
