Using spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel for building crop models and running simulations can be beneficial. Excel is easy to use, powerful, and versatile, and it requires the least proficiency in computer programming compared to other programming platforms. Excel, however, has several weaknesses: it does not directly support loops for iterative…

Over the past several years, we have been exploring and researching a phenomenon that occurs among undergraduate students that we called extension of linear models to non-linear contexts or overgeneralization of linear models. This phenomenon appears when some students use linear representations in situations that are non-linear. In a first phase,…

Discusses the use of a computer program designed to solve the mathematical model associated with soil nutrient uptake by plant roots and to predict the nutrient uptake. Describes a user-friendly personal computer version of this program. (TW)