This Article   Bibliographic References   Add to:  Using
Qualitative Physics to Create Articulate Educational Software
May-June 1997 (vol. 12 no. 3) pp. 32-41  Qualitative physics
captures the kinds of representations and reasoning techniques
that people use in dealing with the physical world. Using
qualitative physics, developers can create educational software
that is fluent, supportive, generative, and customizable.
Research in qualitative physics has many motivations, ranging
from improving our understanding of human cognition to making
new kinds of software systems for various applications. In
particular, creating new kinds of educational software has been
a motivation for qualitative physics since its inception. This
goal is now beginning to be realized, thanks to advances in
qualitative physics and computer technology. Qualitative physics
provides a critical enabling technology for science and
engineering education and makes possible a new type of
affordable, interactive educational software--articula