Background: Multimedia learning, encapsulating both visual and verbal information, has become pivotal in educational settings, with extensive research underscoring its influence. However, a notable research gap exists concerning the application and effectiveness of multimedia learning principles, precisely segmenting, pre-training and modality,…

This paper analyzes Sim-Evolution, an educational simulator designed to help teachers presenting three basic principles of the theory of evolution by natural selection (TENS): the trait variation within a population, the heritability of trait variation, and the selective survival based on heritable traits. Sim-Evolution focuses on high school…

Advances in computer visualization enabling both 2D and 3D representation have generated tools to aid perception of spatial relationships and provide a new forum for instructional design. A key knowledge gap is the lack of understanding of how the brain neurobiologically processes and learns from spatially presented content, and new quantitative…

We provide a 5E structured-inquiry lesson so that students can learn more of the mathematics behind the logistic model of population biology. By using models and mathematics, students understand how population dynamics can be influenced by relatively simple changes in the environment.

This article presents the design of an immersive simulation and inquiry activity for technology-enhanced classrooms. Using a co-design method, researchers worked with a high school biology teacher to create a rainforest simulation, distributed across several large displays in the room to immerse students in the environment. The authors created and…

Students acquire knowledge and skills through different modes of instruction that include classroom lectures with textbooks, computers, and the like. The availability and choice of learning innovation depends on the individual's access to technologies and on the infrastructure environment of the surrounding community. In this rapidly changing…

Science educators and school administrators are reexamining the educational value of animal dissection in the nation's schools and are focusing on simulation as an instructional alternative. One implication of the debate is that simulations can lead to equivalent learning to hands-on dissection. The second implication is whether dissection is…

Evolution is at the center of the biological sciences and is therefore a required topic for virtually every college biology student. Over the past year, the authors have been building a new simulation software package called EvoBeaker to teach college-level evolutionary biology through simulated experiments. They have built both micro and…

Describes step-by-step techniques that can be used to develop educational simulations for undergraduate biology students. Also discussed are simulations that are currently being developed with the support of the National Science Foundation. (ZWH)

Presented is a simulation program for Apple II computer which assays the effects of a series of variables on bacterial growth and interactions between microbial populations. Results of evaluation of the program with students are summarized. (CW)

Speculates on the place of computers and defining the student-computer relationship within the context of biology education. Discusses the value of computer simulations. (DDR)

Described is a computer program, AQUASIM, which simulates interaction between environmental factors, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish in an aquatic ecosystem. The conceptual flow, equations, variables, rate processes, and parameter manipulations are discussed. (CW)

A computer program that simulates the random evolution of a metabolic pathway is given. The program shows that natural selection preserves favorable traits if they occur in a specific sequence. (KR)

Reports on research that tested the effect of using a computer simulation to teach the concept of a food web to nonbiology majors in a large introductory course. Concludes that the use of the simulation resulted in significantly better performance on an open-ended essay question for those students who used the software, particularly for average…

Discusses a computer simulation designed as an educational tool for students to observe predator-prey oscillations and experimentally investigate how changes in life histories affect predator and prey densities. Provides hands-on interaction with such theories and with mathematical models. Available to any instructor for curriculum use. (AIM)