.Ron Capurso
SCIED411
Computer Simulation
As a future science teacher, I found the computer simulation entitled “Modeling the Management of a Watershed to Limit Eutrophication” to be both unique and interesting. The activity provided a visual, interactive, and quantitative way for students to learn about environmental issues. I believe that despite a few flaws, the lesson could be extremely helpful to my future students.
Going into the lesson, students must have a working knowledge of a few key scientific concepts. For example, understanding photosynthesis is necessary in order to figure out how algae can affect dissolved oxygen in the water. Furthermore, students should enter the activity with some basic concepts of environmental chemistry in order to grasp a lot of the jargon involved (for example: watershed, phosphorous, eutrophication). Finally, students should know how to operate simple software (in this case, on apple computers). The technical aspect of the lesson could present problems to students who do not have regular contact with computers.
For the most part, the activity does a good job of addressing some of the PA standards from section 3.8.10. The first bullet, which reads, “Identify past and current tradeoffs between increased production, environmental harm, and social values” is accomplished by allowing students to experiment with plant efficiency and agricultural practices. Participants in the activity can see that increasing the efficiency of plants and agriculture has an extremely positive effect on lake chemistry. Students can then make the connection that over time, as practices get more efficient, there is a possibility of less environmental degradation.
The
third bullet from section C reads, “Compare and contrast potential solutions to
technological, social, economic, and environmental problems.” This standard is
addressed in the last question that asks students to think as if they were a
watershed manager. Through this question, participants in the activity are
asked to think critically about solutions for the environmental problems in
One standard that is not addressed by the activity is the bullet that reads, “Compare technologies that are applied and accepted differently in various cultures.” One easy way to utilize this standard is to ask the question “What impacts will increased eutrophication have on the way local residents view factories?” This would give students the opportunity to think on a social level. Often, science students separate social, economic, and scientific issues. This question would be a perfect way to integrate all of these concepts.
The structure of the activity is conducive to a step-by-step learning process. The exercise starts out with basic concepts of how phosphorous increases algal density, and then moves on to more difficult ideas like efficiency. This allows students to build on their ideas and eventually synthesize all of the new concepts into one idea. Most importantly, the exercise is fun. It allows students to use a new technology to test their preconceived ideas. I find that learning is best done when a student can make discoveries on his or her own. In this way kids have a better chance of retaining their newly-learned information.
One concern for the exercise is the possibility that a teacher would have difficulty monitoring progress. While it is true that each student would be immersed in their own activity, I do not believe this would be too much of a problem for the reason that the program works like a tutorial. Much of the questions asked can be answered experimentally. In other words, even if a student does not know the correct response, he or she would likely be able to discover the answer through trying different combinations of factors. In this way, the need for teacher encouragement is minimal.
Overall, I found the exercise to be extremely useful. I can imagine that it would be a fun change of pace for students in a classroom. Through logical structure and hands-on experimentation, a student would have an easy time of learning the concepts of eutrophication. Often, when kids can use different media to learn, the results are extremely positive.