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Modeling Population Dynamics using VERA - Adam Coscia
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Abstract: Population dynamics are a considerably tough set of problems to rigorously model and produce accurate results. Due to this, formal inquiries into the nature of population growth are hard to explain and understand without requisite knowledge of calculus to model the existing space of solutions from the literature. I present an evaluation of modeling population dynamics using VERA, a web-based scientific modeling software designed to run agent-based simulations for citizen scientists without such requisite knowledge. An analysis of the modeling process shows that VERA provides a conflicting user experience, both encouraging the formation of hypotheses in a novel way as well as holding the user back from validating them in a meaningful way. The results of these simulations as well as a full system evaluation provide a critique of VERA as a learning tool for both ecological and scientific modeling. |
