Our research group has developed educational software designed for students
studying thermodynamics. CyclePad enables students to construct and analyze
a wide variety of thermodynamic cycles. It has a hypertext explanation
facility provides the student with access to the chain of reasoning
underlying the derivation of each value. I would be interested in knowing
if any of you felt that it might fit into advanced Physics curriculum in
the K-12 arena.
CyclePad is currently being field-tested in undergraduate engineering
classes at Northwestern University and the U.S. Naval Academy. So far,
professors have used CyclePad as an aid for students doing traditional text
book problems, a laboratory experience for exploring and analyzing designs
or as a supplementary source for writing research papers on specific cycles
or power plant designs.We are very interested in learning about how
CyclePad can be integrated into science classes and in providing more
supports to instructors.
The software is free (it runs on Windows platforms). Please feel free to
point your students to our web
page or install it in your computer labs. These pages also provide links
which describe the underlying AI technologies upon which CyclePad was built.
I'd be interested in any ideas people have for curriculum design.
Thanks,
_____________________________________________________________________
Julie Baher
Qualitative Reasoning Group
Institute for Learning Sciences
Northwestern University http://www.qrg.ils.nwu.edu/
jbaher@nwu.edu
(847) 467-1869