For occasions when a student wants to understand the structure of a control component in details, STEAMER has a facility called the feedback minilab (Forbus, 1984a), where simulated devices can be assembled and tested. On the minilab's screen, the student has a menu of icons representing abstract functions typical of control devices, such as measuring subcomponents or comparators. She can select these abstract components and assemble them on the screen to construct her own control devices. The minilab is then able to generate code from subcomponent specifications to produce a simulation program for the device. Hence, once a controller has been constructed graphically in this way, it can be integrated into a simulation so that its effects on the embedding system can be observed. As implemented, the minilab has limited tutorial capabilities: it can critique the student's device by locating common bugs and recognizing some instances of known devices. Its pedagogical significance lies in its definition of abstract components in terms that allows simulated devices to be built. It is very important for students to acquire this vocabulary of functional abstractions, and the minilab helps root the abstractions' meaning in direct experiments. 1, record 1, English, - feedback%20minilab
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