Simulations turn a principle into a page your class can open from a link and take apart. You describe what you want learners to discover, TutorFlow writes a plan you can read, and the approved plan becomes a self-contained page that really runs the calculation.
Nothing is installed and nothing is hosted by your institution. The simulation is an ordinary web page, so the tablets and phones already in the room can open it.
At a glance
- A plan comes first. TutorFlow writes down what it will compute, the quantities it tracks, and the rule that advances them. You read it before anything is built.
- Every control is driven. On each build, TutorFlow moves each control from one end of its range to the other and checks the drawing actually changes.
- Questions, not just a picture. Each simulation carries questions a learner can only answer by moving the controls.
- Revisions in plain language. Describe the change in a chat panel beside the simulation and TutorFlow rebuilds it.
- Full version history. Every build, revision, and restore is kept, and any earlier version can be restored.
- Private by default. A simulation is only reachable by a link once you switch it to public.
What a simulation is, and is not
A simulation is a model a learner perturbs. There is no winning, no losing, and no score. The learner changes values and reads what happens, which is what makes it the right tool for working a principle out rather than drilling one.
If you want a score, a win condition, or levels, you want a game instead. The two are separate content types on purpose.
What a simulation is made of
- The model. The quantities it tracks and the rule that advances them, stated concretely enough to implement. This is the part worth reading closely: a simulation that computes the wrong thing looks exactly like one that computes the right thing.
- Controls. One to five things the learner can move, each with a real range and a stated visible effect.
- Readouts. The numbers the learner reads off, shown as selectable text beside the drawing rather than painted into it.
- Inquiry questions. What the learner is meant to work out. This is the field that separates teaching material from a toy.
What the checks cover
Every generated version is validated, then run. TutorFlow drives each declared control to both ends of its range and watches whether the picture changes, because a simulation whose sliders move and whose drawing does not passes every static rule and is useless in a classroom. A version that fails is rebuilt rather than handed over.
The checks confirm it runs. They do not confirm the arithmetic. Nothing here verifies that the model matches the principle you meant to teach, and nothing judges whether the subject or the difficulty suits your class. Read the plan, and open the built simulation once, before you share it.