Learning Statics With Multimedia And Other Tools

Although we started out to develop a multimedia program for statics, our learning environment has evolved to include physical models, interactive multimedia, traditional pencil-and-paper activities, and cooperative learning. Multimedia is just one of several tools to facilitate learning. Our objective is to create an effective learning environment that helps to "produce learning" (Barr and Tagg, 1995). In this paper we describe some elements of the learning environment and illustrate the use of multimedia learning models in the subject area of trusses.