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.