Software for Curricula in Ecology and Evolution

这个教学软件包叫做Populus， 旨在支持大学生态学课程， 进化生物学，并已被证明是一个非常 在世界各地的一些机构中成功的教学工具。 该项目的目标是将研究技术 课堂上，使用计算机模拟来减少数学 通过提供具体的动态演示， 以一种图形化的、直观的方式来描述行为， 允许学生通过运行不同的 参数值，直到他们理解模型的行为。 PI正在扩展和增强早期版本的 Populus目前由30种主要型号组成， 介绍生态学和进化的高级主题。 的 目的是彻底转换程序使用“对象 面向”的编程技术，这将奠定基础 进一步发展，并改善和增加新的模拟 模块并对程序外壳进行功能性添加。 他们打算建立一个包含50-60个模块的产品。

This instructional software package, called Populus, is designed to support university courses in ecology and evolutionary biology, and has proven to be an extremely successful pedagogical tool in several institutions, worldwide. The goals of this project are to move research techniques into the classroom, using computer simulations to reduce mathematics anxieties by providing concrete demonstrations of dynamic behavior in a graphical and intuitively understandable way, allowing students to "play" with a model by running different parameter values until they understand the model's behavior. The PIs are expanding and enhancing an earlier version of Populus, which currently consists of 30 major models that span introductory to advanced topics in ecology and evolution. The intention is to thoroughly convert the program using "object oriented" programming techniques, which will lay the foundation for further development, and to improve and add new simulations modules and make functional additions to the program shell. They intend to build toward a product containing 50-60 modules.