Exploring
computer
simulation in
teaching marine
ecology
Bruce J. McAdam
Omair Ameerbakhsh
Savi Maharaj
Learning and Teaching Conference, 19th April 2017
Technology can help me teach, but how?
• My students need to learn about over-exploitation of fisheries
• And about the maths behind setting catch limits
• We can't do it for real, so we developed a simulation.
• But...
• How do I teach the class?
•
•
Let them experiment, or
Explain and demonstrate
• Can I improve the experience?
"We plan to use interactive simulation in
other fields such as Aquaculture and with
bigger groups to explore the effectiveness
of using interactive simulation in teaching
a range of complex subjects to university
students."
Ameerbakhsh et al (2016)
IEEE ITHET 15th International Conference on
Information Technology Based Higher Education and
Training
A collaboration is
born
•
Bruce teaches marine ecology and
developed the first version of the
class and software
•
Savi asked a CS UG student
(Martynas Paulikas) to improve the
software
•
Savi supervises Omair, who is doing
his PhD on using learning
technologies
•
We can work together to improve
the class
•
And learn about how we can teach
and use technology better
The fishing simulation
Every year you set a quota
And find out what happens
Play the same game repeatedly to try different ideas
Two versions
•
White box: shows the working
•
Black box: gives limited data
Black box is intended to simulate real world difficulty
in getting data
White box vs. Black box
Above the water
Below the water
White box vs. Black box
White box shows the working
• All data is revealed
• Simulation teaching tool adds value compared with experiments
Blackbox is more realistic
• Data that is hidden in real world, is hidden in simulation
• Simulation substitutes for unviable experiments
How to use the white box to help students deal with real world data?
Experiment design: 2 similar classes
Split class randomly in two
Lecture Introduction
(10min)
Lecture Introduction
(10min)
White box demo
(10min)
White box experiment
(10min)
Black box trial
(10min)
Black box trial
(10min)
Intervention
Data collection
Questionnaires
(10min)
Questionnaires
(10min)
The actual data
When they play the Black Box...
•
Students record their turns at the game
•
And guess the hidden values
•
Play 6 times
•
We can see how they improve
•
And what tactics they apply
I can plot graphs of this
And analyse quantitatively
We also ask other questions
How did it go?
•
•
•
•
•
Taught one MSc class (2 groups of each treatment)
One group of volunteers (1 group of each treatment)
Very difficult to get volunteers
Very time consuming
Will integrate this into scheduled UG teaching next year
Result 1: Students do learn
Result 2: Teaching does matter
Result 3: Self Knowledge limits us
'White box demo' students performed better
But would have preferred to have been taught the other way
(NB: no evidence of Dunning-Kruger effect of inverse correlation
between confidence and ability)
Broader Conclusions
• Interactive simulations appeal to students (Ameerbakhsh et al
2016)
• But it is not clear how to use simulations in class
• Students learn, teaching helps them learn
• And the old-fashioned expert-demo had best results
• We can't rely on students telling us the best way to teach
• But performing a teaching experiment is not easy