CSI School Book

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Modelling in the classroom.

If you have yet to use modelling software in the classroom you are really missing out in powerful ways for students to learn stuff.

One of the benefits of modelling is that it allows students to visualise and interact with the world in a way that is not possible in the traditional classroom. Students can play with models of ecosystems, molecules or other systems and see what will happen dynamically over time. This is difficult to do in the real world.

There are a number of different (FREE) solution around and I will cover these in a number of blogposts.

Tool 1 - Molecular Workbench
This outstanding online solution features a range of pre-made models and activities in the areas of chemistry, physics biology and mechanics that you can plug straight in to your classroom. The simulator runs by using basic molecular rules to simulate the interaction of physical (biochemical etc) objects from the atomic to macro scale (and a bit larger).

Features:

  • A teacher account allows students to submit activities to the teacher once completed.
  • Students and teachers can also modify or make their own models (a richer more complex activity than using someone elses). This doesn't look to complicated.
  • Runs on windows in a browser or via a downloaded browser for the MAC


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