Ideally, the more ways students can be exposed to a topic or concept, the better they will retain the information because they will form more connections to it. A variety of simulations would be very helpful. It’s another tool in the instructional/strategy toolbox. I like that it is presented not as a replacement for actual field study, but as a way to get around obstacles (expenses, time factors, etc.) when needed.
We were dissecting frogs in my science class (our school had recently stopped using cats). I am fascinated by all the possibilities of experiments students could conduct with today’s technology. They could simulate a cat being dissected - no cats have to be harmed.
I can use computational science when I begin teaching my students about bacteria and fungi. This could give them more information about bacteria that they might not be able to get in a traditional class setting.
Computation science would be a good way to model farm run off, and water pollution scenarios. It might even provide ideas on how to recirculate this run off.
Students are so interested in vidoe games. Tying in learning code with classroom projects will get more students interested in Science and Math. There is nothing more boring that worksheets!
Computational modeling would fit nicely I with both energy and atomic behaviors. Within energy students could model adding a new electricity production source and examine the impact.
Computational Science may allow scientist to study the behavior of matter in absolute zero.
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Modeling possibilities based on data involving living things are possible now with computers. So when young minds start thinking … “I wonder what will happen if …”
Computational science cannot take into account all the variables in the real world. It does give us the ability to look at how limiting factors like drought can affect the plants and animals in a region. We do not have the time and money to wait to watch the results of a drought. Plus we want to be prepared for the drought.
Computational science could be used to predict the movements of the many objects in orbits close to the Earth. This would help scientists currently watching the skies identify possible celestial objects that might collide with our planet.
Computational Science is a science uses advanced computing and data analysis to understand and solve real-world complex problems. It allows you to experiment with the complete system experiment of the species, environment, and other influencing factors interacting as you conduct the experiment. A possible experiment would be the effects of climate change on the environment. In
I agree with you. If I had been able to participate in this type of inquiry, I think science would have come alive for me at an earlier age.
I thought that this was a very interesting and seemingly immediate way to see how models can adapt and take different factors of a problem into account. When I learned science in school, it was a lot of observation and predictions about how one thing impacts another. Computational science looks at these interactions, but pushes it further and sees how things are connected and how different fields can shed light on new ideas and answers.
Computational Science is very engaging and exciting it seems from this information. My science experience was out of the textbook with lots of memorization and talked about concepts that were difficult to relate to.
In elementary school, I do not remember completing many hands on activities. My high school had a strong emphasis on science and math. Even though the science classes provided numerous opportunities for hands on and inquiry based activities, I can only imagine what we could have done with computer models.
Computational science is similar to what I did in school, in that we did many hands on labs. The difference is that we could try to predict the situations and there was always a reason why the data would not be fully correct due to uncontrollable variables. With computational science, we can predict what will happen, but be able to change many different variables to show how the situation will change. It gives a broader perspective to the students. It would be neat to use computational science to show how different diseases affect the systems of the body and how each different system in the body changes when the body is trying to fight off the disease. What an awesome tool!!!
I agree! What a great way to be able to predict and then actually see what is happening. You get to see the situation as a whole, which makes things much easier to understand.
As a visual learner, I think that computational Science would have been amazing in grade school as well as High School. Having to read text all the time and “imagine what could happen” became mundane and less informative for me over time. As an Architect, computational learning can be used to simulate the stress on a building it can take before the building falls (without compromising human safety). How does snow affect a building? A hurricane? An Earthquake? The weight of a Plane Resting on a Building? A helicopter Landing pad? Heat in Arizona? Etc
I think thats so interesting! We did something similar in school also, but now that society is moving toward the digital age at such a rapid pace, I can easily see how it we are able to come up with more possibilities. What would have taken forever to do while we were in school, will happen so much faster for the up and coming generations.
I completely agree! It is really difficult to construct labs and hands-on investigations for many science topics. There are a number of factors like time and availability or cost of resources that limit the types of science labs. Additionally, some labs and hands-on investigations are really poor models for what is actually taking place. I think computational science increases the reality of the investigation.