Computer Models Design for Teaching and Learning using Easy Java Simulation

Research Digest

This broad paper documents the design of EJS computer models for teaching. It is useful as a foundation article for the whole OSPSG approach: teachers and students learn through manipulable models, not only static explanations.

Use It Tomorrow

Choose one model and identify the variable students should change, the representation they should read, and the explanation they should write.

Pedagogical Move

Use model design questions: what is simplified, what is represented, and what evidence does the model produce?

Student Agency

Frame the task so students work like young scientists: they choose or justify the variable to test, make a prediction, collect evidence, defend a claim, and decide how to improve the model or investigation.

Discussion Prompts

• What evidence does the model, video, or activity make visible?
• Which variable should students change first, and what should they keep constant?
• What claim can students make from the evidence, and what limitation should they acknowledge?