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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Pupil's ecological reasoning with help of modeling tool

subject

description

Ecological concepts, and in particular population dynamics, has been found to be among the most difficult topics in biology. Some researchers pointed to students' relatively weak mathematical background as the main source of learning difficulties. This paper reports on an investigation of pupil's (n=73) reasoning about the ecological phenomena by using an iconic modelling tool, WorldMaker. The simulations eliminated the need for understanding of mathematical equations, and made the ecological concepts much more accessible to some children. However, many of the pupils reasoned from an anthropocentric perspective that obstructed their ability to predict ecological phenomena which requires systems thinking.