Abstract—The aim of this paper is to develop an exploratory
research, based on articles available in scientific databases and
related to the theme "Data Mining in Education” in order to
ascertain which are the algorithms and methods used. The
keywords used for the study were: "Data mining and education".
After a process for selecting the publications related to the
theme, we analyzed the methods and algorithms commonly used
for these studies. Results showed the most cited databases, along
the methods and algorithms practiced in Educational Data
Mining field. We concluded that the decision tree was the main
method applied, probably because of the graphic knowledge
representation, which could help experts to better interpret the
elicited evidences, and to postulate causes and effects.
Index Terms—Algorithms, data mining, education, methods,
exploratory research.
A. Castro is with the Federal Institute of Tocantins (IFTO), CO
77.950-000 Brazil (e-mail: audioespacial@gmail.com).
L. Garcia, D. Prata, M. Lisboa, and M. Prata are with the Federal
University of Tocantins (UFT), CO 77.001-009 Brazil (e-mails:
lggarcia@mail.uft.edu.br, ddnprata@uft.edu.br,
marcelolisboarocha@yahoo.com.br, pratamonica7@gmail.com).
Cite: Ancelmo Castro, Leandro Garcia, David Prata, Marcelo Lisboa, and Monica Prata, "An Exploratory Study on Data Mining in Education: Practiced Algorithms and Methods," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 319-323, 2017.