In the last four years, the Agentsheets [2] programming substrate has been used to create more than 40
educational and industrial design environments serving as construction kits, simulation environments, visual
programming languages, and games. We have combined the Agentsheets design environment with the
Mosaic networking media to create the Agentsheets Remote Exploratorium providing learners access to
interactive exhibits (Figure 1). Learners can actively interact with exhibits including Electric World (an
exhibit to experiment with electricity), and Waves (an exhibit to experience the Doppler effect and
supersonic bangs). The easy inclusion of additional information, such as instructions, learning motivation,
and even related references for further exploration, is supported through the use of Mosaic and creates an
interactive exhibit which contextualizes educational use. The Remote Exploratorium allows a learner to be
engaged at four different levels of interactivity ranging from simple navigation to adding new components
to exhibits and defining their behaviors:
Figure 1. Remote Exploratorium: Servers and Clients
Fig. 2. The Electric World Exhibit.
Fig. 3. Changed Electric World
(create-class BUZZER-AGENT
(sub-class-of PROPAGATOR-AGENT)
(instance-methods
(FROM-BOTTOM (Value)
(when (> Value 0) (play-sound 'honk)))))
The new buzzer agent is ready to be used in the Electric World (Figure 4). It serves as replacement for the
bulb. When the buzzer receives current, it will play a sound. This extensibility allows an exhibit to be
customized to support what is most relevant to the learner, and to reflect shifts and changes in the learner's
acquired knowledge.
Abstract - The Remote Exploratorium
In an educational context World Wide Web clients such as Mosaic are of limited value because they put
learners into the role of information absorbers. Drawing on a museum analogy, learners using Mosaic can
be perceived, like museum visitors, to be passive observers of exhibits. Despite the richness of exhibits in
terms of the amount of material presented and the use of multimedia, activity is restricted to navigation
through real (museum) or hyper (Mosaic) spaces. To be most effective, learning should include
constructive activities more engaging than browsing through hyperspaces. Distance education can be
facilitated by combining network media with design environments to create highly interactive, engaging
environments that we call Remote Exploratoriums. In contrast to classical museums, exploratoriums, such
as in San Francisco or numerous children's museums, feature engaged, hands-on learning experiences
through interactive exhibits that are not only observed but are actively manipulated. The Agentsheets
Remote Exploratorium is a mechanism to facilitate the easy exchange and distribution of educational
interactive exhibits through networks. Agentsheets is a programming substrate to create interactive
simulation and design environments. In this paper, we discuss the implications of combining a network
medium and a design environment to support distance education.
Keywords:
World Wide Web, Mosaic, learning, distance education, design environments
The Remote Exploratorium
Remote Exploratoriums, by combining networking media with design environments, support engaged
distance education. Networking media can provide learners with access to important remote resources.
However, while necessary, networking media are not sufficient to support distance education. In the spirit of
constructionist learning [1] , design environments are tools that allow learners to construct personally
meaningful artifacts. The realm of design serves as a vehicle to create learning opportunities.
1. Navigate through Exploratorium
The learner makes use only of the Mosaic part of the virtual exploratorium. Mosaic serves as a navigational
tool to find interesting related information consisting of text, pictures and videos.2. Download and Run Exhibit:
If learners are interested in a deeper understanding of an exhibit, they can download and run it. For
instance, the Electric World exhibit is about electricity. In the Electric World Mosaic page (Figure 2, left),
the learner can click the download option to access the interactive exhibit. In response, Mosaic sends a
compound document to Agentsheets. The Agentsheets design environment loads sounds, installs agent
depictions, compiles agent programs and stores agent documentation. The learner sees two new windows
on the screen: a worksheet in which the simulation takes place (Figure 2, right top) and a gallery of agents
(Figure 2, right bottom) containing electrical components. Simple documentation describing the behavior of
agents and means to interact with agents can be accessed through Macintosh Balloon Help. The balloons,
like the code, depiction and sound of agents have been transferred from the remote exploratorium server via
the Mosaic WWW client to the Agentsheets design environment. In the Electric World learners can operate
switches and observe reactions. For instance, operating the left most switch in the lower row of switches
will put the circuit into a feedback mode in which an electric coil and the electromagnetic switch located
left of the coil will interact with each other.3. Construct/Extend Existing Simulation
Exhibits are not static artifacts to be observed. Learners have all the components to create new simulations
or to change existing ones. In Figure 3, the learner has added a column of switches. By doing this, the
learner can directly and tangibly apply knowledge gained from the exhibit.4. Extend Behavior of Exhibit
Learners can change their role from end-users to designers (Figure 4) by using Agentsheets functionality to
modify the behavior of an exhibit. For example, learners can add their own agents to exhibits. In the
Electric World a learner introduces a buzzer by first defining its depiction, , using the Agentsheets
depiction editor, and then defines the behavior of the buzzer either using a textual programming language
called AgenTalk (below) or using graphical rewrite rules. Experiences
We encountered several issues while creating the Agentsheets Remote Exploratorium that we believe to be
relevant to the use of WWW technology in distance education:
Reliability: "Connection Refused by Host":
Imagine if a student is using a textbook, and
periodically, that textbook disappears without warning. This situation, although an Internet reality, is
unacceptable in widespread educational use of remote exploratoriums.Establishing Communication Between the Design Environment and the Network:
Interactive
exhibits require software configuration changes by providers and learners. The definition of file types and
their connections to appropriate helper applications is intricate and WWW client software dependent. Efficiency:
Interactive exhibits require not one, but several files containing various types of
information (e.g., sound, pictures, code). Readers have low tolerance for files that require minutes to be
downloaded successfully, however file compression and aggregation is not supported within the network
media. Bi-directional Communication is limited:
Only very limited mechanisms for feedback are
supported currently within WWW client software.
Conclusion
Our experiences show that important contributions to learning are to be made by constructionist, highly-
interactive Remote Exploratoriums. The presentational orientation of current WWW software must shift to
support widespread educational use of Internet capabilities.
