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Paul Horwitz is a physicist with broad interests in the application of technology to science and mathematics education. In 1984, he was Principal Investigator on the ThinkerTools Project, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, which designed a curriculum and associated software that successfully taught the elements of Newtonian physics to students at the sixth grade level. In 1992, a simulated "Relativity Laboratory" that he designed won two EDUCOM Higher Education Software Awards, one for Best Natural Science Software (Physics), the other for Best Design. Currently, he is exploring the educational effectiveness of computer-based "hypermodels" applications that integrate multimedia materials with a manipulable model of a domain, using each medium as a tool for navigating the other. Hypermodel activities typically pose problems to students, then monitor and log their actions as they attempt to solve them. Data collected from such activities provide a rich resource for researchers and teachers, and enable them to assess the students understanding of a scientific concept. | 