A computer-based educational system provides the user or instructor with a suite
of graphic editing tools, allowing the design of graphical objects, such as symbols
and text that can be displayed to a viewer, such as a student, using a projector
or computer terminal. In order to facilitate the educational process, the invention
provides the user with robust ability to control parameters of the graphical objects,
allowing the user to create simulations or models of subject matter, such as mathematical
principles, in order to facilitate the educational process. In the preferred embodiment,
the parameters of these graphical objects can actually be defined in terms of variables
and specifically functions or expressions including those variables and then the
values of the variables controlled in real-time by the user. This ability allows
the user to control the execution of the simulations or models, enabling the user
or instructor to dovetail the execution of those simulations with the instructional process.
