Thinker Tools Thinker Tools, developed by Barbara White , is a micro-world which allows the user to manipulate a dot by applying forces to it. The program has several modules starting with a two dimensional model where users try to apply enough force to make the dot go a certain velocity. In the most complex the dot is affected by friction and gravity and must be manipulated through a complex path. Middle school students using the program every day for 2 months outperformed high school physics students-even those who had just completed a unit on Newtonian physics. Jasper Woodbury Series Jasper , developed by John Bransford and colleages at Vanderbilt's LTC is a video-disk based series of adventures that work to address the problem of inert knowledge .
Video allows rich environments to be presented.
Video-disk facilitates reviewing certain portions of the stories to find details missed in earlier viewings. Students who had worked on a Jasper problem scored as well on a set of word problems as a group who had worked on similar word problems and significantly outperformed them on a similar video-based problem. Clark insists that instructional theory depends on necessary rather than sufficient conditions. Kozma argues that we must find sufficient conditions for learning. Implications for Research Shift from search for general laws to looking for causal mechanisms.