I am currently Visiting
Professor of Education and Research Professor of
Physics and Astronomy at Tufts University. I am
also Emeritus Professor of Engineering Science and
Education at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Emeritus Professor of Education at
the Harvard Graduate School of Education. I was
trained in theoretical physics and mathematics and
did research for some years in the area of atomic
physics. In the course of that research, my
colleagues and I developed a varietyof computer
graphics techniques that proved to be useful in the
teaching of mathematics and science. My current
research interests include the design of
microcomputer software environments to improve the
teaching and learning of science and mathematics
and the application of cognitive science techniques
to the study of mathematics and science education.
I have been a visiting
Professor at universities in France, Italy and
Israel, have consulted and lectured widely in this
country and abroad and published extensively in the
area of educational technology. I am the author or
co-author of many software environments including
The Semantic Calculator, The Algebraic Proposer,
M-SS-NG L-NKS, What Do You Do With A Broken
Calculator?, The Geometric Supposer Series, The
Geometric superSupposer, Calculus Unlimited, Sir
Isaac Newton's Games, The Calculus Toolkit, The
Function Analyzer, The Newtonian Sandbox, The
Function Supposer Series, Div, Grad, Curl &
almost All That!, Unsolving..., The Function Family
Register, What Shape is That Color?, and the in
COMMON Series.
I have a long standing
interest in alternative modes of assessment and
have edited reports entitled “The Prices of
Secrecy: The Social, Intellectual and Psychological
Costs of Current Assessment Practice” and
“Assessing Mathematics Understanding &
Skills Effectively” [available from
Educational Technology Center, Harvard Graduate
School of Education, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA ]. My
most recent major publications are a book-length
case study of educational reform entitled
“The Geometric Supposer; What Is It A Case
Of?” [published by Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates 1993] and “Software Goes to School:
Teaching for Understanding in the Age of
Technology” [published by Oxford University
Press 1995 ], a book co-edited with colleagues from
the Educational Technology Center at Harvard.