SIMULATION AND MODELLING IN TEACHING AND LEARNING
IN BIOLOGY IN SCHOOLBY: AISYAH SAHIRA BINTI ABDUL RAHIM AIN SOFEA SYAHIRAH BINTI MAHADI
WHAT IS SIMULATION ?• form of experiential learning• technique of study or learning by mimicking it to a computer
application• it is a strategy that fits well with the principles of Student-Centred and
constructivist learning and teaching• process of using a model tools by manipulating variables that cannot
be changed in real life• computer simulations allows students to learn visually about
problems that they do not simply understand
HOW SIMULATION ENHANCE STUDENTS LEARNING ?• visual learning enhancing students problem solving skills• helps to approach and increase student comprehension• allows students to explore nature of things using scientific simulations• creative aspect of the simulation makes it seems more fun to handle• makes the students feels the enjoyment of their educational experience• the pressure to solve a problem by changing the variables can motivate
students in learning new things• simulation process enhances their knowledge of such abstract theories
and concepts
WHAT IS STELLA ?• software that allows modelling and simulation• type of flexible computer modelling package that provides an
interface which allows users to develop or construct a models of experiment• software reduces time efficiency as it can be done at any time with
the usage of internet• modelling in STELLA proceeds in three steps which are constructing a
qualitative model, parameterizing it, and exploring the model's dynamics
What comprises the modelling process?• four building blocks in the modelling process which comprises of
stocks, flows, connectors and converters• Stocks is the very basic thing in building blocks as it is used to represent
anything that accumulated such as population, biomass, nutrients and water• flows are used to represent activities which are the input and output• connector is used to transmit the information in order to regulate the
flows mentioned earlier• converters, it contains the equation which generates an output value
during each time interval of a simulation
Example of model tools:
Example of a simulation control panel:
GRAPH 1
GRAPH 2
GRAPH 3
GRAPH 4
DISCUSSION:• Humification or humus• Humus is a organic matter that has been used or transformed• Increasing the value of humufication fraction will increase the nitrogen
in humus and the value of the nitrogen in organic matter is decrease because the value of nitrogen transform into humus increase.• It can motivate student to understand better on the subject or on the
specific topic.• Encourage student to explore any kind of possibilities that would
happen by changing the parameters
ADVANTAGES:• Helps users with provide the practical tutorial when design the
experiments• Student are able to study the behavior of a system without building it.• Student can see clearly the accurate result showed by the simulation • Able to study and investigate the natural condition such as nitrogen
cycle by using simulation model• Can be used to investigate the situation that would be dangerous in
real life• Stimulator can be used as an effective ways for teaching or
demonstrating concepts to students.
DISADVANTAGES:• It required internet connection in order to design the experiments• Sometimes it is difficult to interpret the simulation results.• Simulation modelling and analysis can be time consuming and
expensive• Have a poor understanding of how physical systems work.
CONCLUSION• To conclude, this STELLA software gives many advantages rather than
disadvantages. With just a click and entering the input, we are able to know the result for the simulation experiment. Not only the result but also the graph and the table too. This gives many good impacts especially for students who did not have much time to conduct an experiment and some of student may have bad result for the experiment that they conducted. But the thing that lack in this software is that, students will lack of practical n handling the experimental procedures and tools. This reduces their efficiency in conducting experiment.