Page 132 - Getting the Picture Modeling and Simulation in Secondary Computer Science Education

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Chapter 6
6.3 Method
6.3.1 Educational Setting
The study took place within the regular CS course the first author teaches to 12th grade students. For them, this was the last year of their three-year CS course. During an eight-week period they studied Modeling and Simulations with NetLogo using newly developed teaching materials. The first five weeks were dedicated to studying the teaching material and making the accompanying assignments. During the rest of the period, the students worked in small groups (mostly in pairs) on a large practical assignment where they investigated various phenomena by making a model in NetLogo and exploring it through running simulations. This process was strictly planed and contained milestones when the students produced the required project documentation and kept logbooks. At scheduled moments, the students handed in all the documentation through google forms. In these forms, they had to describe their phases of the modeling process and in particular, they were asked to elaborate on the validation they performed. This practical assignment is detailed in chapter 5. At the end of the period, each group presented its model to the rest of the class and the students were encouraged to discuss their models, results, design choices, programming issues and other questions they found relevant. A few days later the students turned in their final reports and NetLogo programs. They were encouraged to improve their models taking into account the feedback they got during the presentations.
6.3.2 Participants
Out of the twelve students in the class, one opted out and decided not to participate in the study. The eleven participating students — two girls and nine boys — formed six groups. The overview below shows the six groups (G1 through G6) consisting of students S1 through S11 and the cases they worked on.
• G1 (S1 and S2): Potatoes. A potato farmer wants to maximize the profit while taking into account the costs for seed plants and fertilizer, contagious diseases and pests whose propagation depends on the distance among the plants and the engagement in clearing out affected plants. What is the optimal strategy for planting and farming potatoes?