MICROCOMPUTER CLASSROOM DEMONSTRATIONS AND STUDENT INTERACTION WITH FUNDAMENTAL KINEMATIC SYSTEMS.

Over the past few years a series of programs has evolved which has as its primary goal enhanced student understanding of the relative motions which occur in fundamental kinematic systems. As the complexity of the models increased, more computation was required at each step of the simulation. This resulted in a degradation of the perceived motion continuity of the simulations. The present paper reports the results of efforts to improve the speed with which the motion display takes place and to enhance the user interface. The improved display speed greatly facilitates the perception of motion continuity. The improved user interface allows students to specify more parameters for the simulated systems without complicating the input process.