An exploratory case study of interactive simulation for teaching Ecology

Ameerbakhsh, Omair; Maharaj, Savi; Hussain, Amir; Paine, Tim; Taiksi, Sol�ne

Abstract

This paper explores the effectiveness of interactive simulation for teaching a selected complex subject, Ecology, in higher education. Specifically, we carry out a lab intervention using interactive agent based simulation, to teach the complex concept of spatially-explicit predator prey interaction to undergraduate students of an advanced module: BIOU9CE (Community Ecology & Conservation Applications) at the University of Stirling. We propose use of Netlogo, an interactive agent-based simulation tool, and evaluate its effectiveness for learning and teaching of interactive simulation developed specifically for the classroom, compared with an existing, less interactive, simulation tool (R).

Citation

Ameerbakhsh, O., Maharaj, S., Hussain, A., Paine, T., & Taiksi, S. (2016, September). An exploratory case study of interactive simulation for teaching Ecology. Presented at 2016 15th International Conference on Information Technology Based Higher Education and Training (ITHET), Istanbul, Turkey

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: 2016 15th International Conference on Information Technology Based Higher Education and Training (ITHET)
• Start Date: Sep 8, 2016
• End Date: Sep 10, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Dec 1, 2016
• Publication Date: 2016
• Deposit Date: Oct 7, 2019
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Book Title: 2016 15th International Conference on Information Technology Based Higher Education and Training (ITHET)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ITHET.2016.7760725
• Keywords: E-learning, interactive computer simulation, ecology, case study
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1792636