education

[gusl]

R.M. Sperandeo-Mineo - LEARNING PHYSICS VIA MODEL CONSTRUCTION


from the QED Manifesto

The development of mathematical ability is notoriously dependent upon
`doing' rather than upon `being told' or `remembering'. The QED system
will provide, via such techniques as interactive proof checking
algorithms and an endless variety of mathematical results at all
levels, an opportunity for the one-on-one presenting, checking, and
debugging of mathematical technique, which it is so expensive to
provide by the method of one trained mathematician in dialogue with
one student. QED can provide an engaging and non-threatening framework
for the carrying out of proofs by students, in the same spirit as a
long-standing program of Suppes at Stanford for example[link mine]. Students will
be able to get a deeper understanding of mathematics by seeing better
the role that lemmas play in proofs and by seeing which kinds of
manipulations are valid in which kinds of structures. Today few
students get a grasp of mathematics at a detailed level, but via
experimentation with a computerized laboratory, that number will
increase. In fact, students can be used (eagerly, we think) to
contribute to the development of the body of definitions and proved
theorems in QED.