Modeling classroom teaching as optimal communication

A good teacher is a good communicator. But communicating to a large audience can be difficult if audience members have differing preconceptions and hence construe the same message differently. Following this analogy of teaching as communication, we develop a framework for modeling classroom education as optimal communication to a variable audience. We study simple teaching games where teachers provide examples of a target concept to groups of students. Students synthesize these examples with their prior knowledge in order to induce the concept. We consider strategies for managing variability, including ability grouping ("tracking"), reductions in class size, and formative assessment. With known costs on actions, our model can also be extended for decision-theoretic analysis. This model provides a framework for estimating theoretical limits on the utility of educational interventions.