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International Conference on Informatics in Schools: Situation, Evolution, and Perspectives

ISSEP 2016: Informatics in Schools: Improvement of Informatics Knowledge and Perception pp 130–141Cite as

Defining and Observing Modeling and Simulation in Informatics

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 9973))

Abstract

Computational Thinking (CT) is gaining a lot of attention in education. In this study we focus on the CT aspect modeling and simulation. We conducted a case study analyzing the projects of 12th grade high school informatics students in which they made models and ran simulations of phenomena from other disciplines. We constructed an analytic framework based on literature about modeling and analyzed students’ project documentation, recordings of student groups at work and during presentations, survey results and interviews with individual students. We examined how to discern the elements of our framework in the students’ work. Moreover, we determined which data sources are suitable for observing students’ learning. Finally, we investigated what difficulties students encounter while working on modeling and simulation projects. Our findings result in an operational definition of modeling and simulation, and provide input for future development of both assessment instruments and instructional strategies.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research grant nr. 023.002.138.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Teaching and Teacher Education, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Nataša Grgurina, Klaas van Veen & Cor Suhre

  2. Radboud University and Open University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Erik Barendsen

  3. Open University, Heerlen, The Netherlands

    Bert Zwaneveld

Authors
  1. Nataša Grgurina
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  2. Erik Barendsen
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  3. Bert Zwaneveld
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  4. Klaas van Veen
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  5. Cor Suhre
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nataša Grgurina .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Ljubljana , Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Andrej Brodnik

  2. University Paris-Saclay , Cachan, France

    Françoise Tort

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Grgurina, N., Barendsen, E., Zwaneveld, B., van Veen, K., Suhre, C. (2016). Defining and Observing Modeling and Simulation in Informatics. In: Brodnik, A., Tort, F. (eds) Informatics in Schools: Improvement of Informatics Knowledge and Perception. ISSEP 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9973. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46747-4_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46747-4_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-46746-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-46747-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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