Integrating Computers and Tutors into Cost-Effective Physics and Mathematics Instruction

Abstract

I must state at the very beginning that the subject of this paper does not compare in elegance or imagination with many of the other computer-based instructional methods described in this volume. Nevertheless, I hope the reader will find that what follows represents a relatively quick and cost-effective means for improving the quality of science and mathematics instruction in the interim period (of perhaps several years) before a higher level of computer-based instructional methodology becomes commonplace. In order to understand the rationale for adopting a computer-and tutor-based instructional program, the reader first must be acquainted with the context into which it was introduced and how the program helped solve two apparently unrelated problems.