Motivation for study

Our aim as educational software developers is to provide students with flexible, powerful and easy-to-use tools with which they can build their own resources such as games, experiments, tutorials, etc. This vision is guided by our belief that children, just as mathematicians, need to be able to explore, interact with and play at mathematics. It is also supported by the mounting evidence that software design is a powerful vehicle for student's learning and problem-solving [Harel1991,Kafai1995,Soloway et al.1994,Kafai and Ching1997].

We have been pursuing a component-based approach which exploits the rapidly growing potential of network technologies such as Java, JavaBeans, MathML, OpenMath, etc. The toolkit under development offers discrete, inter-connectable pieces called OpenMath JavaBeans that are manipulated via intuitive visual environments. While their functionalities are still relatively crude, they already make it possible to simplify the programming process to the point where non-programmers with limited computer literacy can ``write'' their own programs. Eventually it should be possible for students to rapidly assemble powerful tools and resources into learning contexts.

Before this goal can be realized, many questions need to be answered. First among them include:

Can we create a toolkit that a typical middle school teacher can use to build interactive applications?

We are concerned that the planned technology be able to meet the minimum requirements for building useful resources. Another important question is:

Will children be able to learn and apply the requisite mental framework in order to assemble their own learning resources?

The construction of resources from components requires an understanding of event-driven processes and an ability to visualize the flow of information. This may be unreasonably complex for middle school students.