Modeling the dynamics of classroom education using teaching games

Michael Frank

Stanford University

Abstract

What makes a good teacher, and how should we structure classrooms to promote effective teaching? This paper investigates the idea that a good teacher is a good communicator, using models of optimal pragmatic communication to explore the dynamics of classroom learning. The proposed model de- scribes teaching as choosing examples of a concept to present to students in order to maximize their information gain. Under this model, the key challenge for the teacher is communicating to a heterogenous audience. A number of results emerge naturally, including decreases in performance with increases in class size and increases in performance based on tailoring instruction to groups of students based on prior knowledge or ability.

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