An Intelligent and Interactive Simulation and Tutoring Environment for Exploring and Learning Simple Machines

........................................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ x List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. xi List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. xiii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Motivation ................................................................................................................ 3 1.2. Research Questions .................................................................................................. 4 1.3. Organization ............................................................................................................. 4 Chapter 2: Literature Review ...................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 3: A Tutoring System for Simple Machines ................................................................ 13 3.1. Motivation .............................................................................................................. 13 3.2. System Architecture ............................................................................................... 14 3.3. Graphical User Interface ........................................................................................ 15 3.4. Knowledge Evaluator ............................................................................................. 17 3.5. Feedback Module ................................................................................................... 17 3.6. Simulation Module ................................................................................................. 20 3.7. Student Model ........................................................................................................ 20 3.8. Tutor Module ......................................................................................................... 23