Sofware Description
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Sofware Description
SimForest is
a cross platform application which can be used by individual students,
small groups, or an entire class. Students can plant trees from
a pool of over 30 New England species, set environmental parameters
such as rain fall, temperature, and soil conditions, and watch the
forest plot grow and evolve over many years. Graphing and analysis
tools are provided within the programs for collection of hard copy
data.
Accompanying curriculum
materials will assist students in connecting real forest growth with
the computer software model simulations in the classroom, a process
that is called scaffolding. The software will allow the students to
explore the affects of their manipulation of physical growing conditions
within a compressed time frame. As a consequence of the time compression
students will be able to "see" how their changes affect their virtual
forest almost immediately over a range of years. This will allow them
the opportunity to employ inquiry style learning methods in acquiring
knowledge about forest growth. It is our hope that in the process
of using this software that students will also learn some basic principles
of botany and ecology, while becoming more comfortable in acquiring
and using scientific inquiry and problem solving skills.
This software
is open ended students can pose or explore such ideas as:
1. How would global
warming (or a flood, or erosion) effect the species distribution and
size of local species?
2. Given a typical
New England forest plot, describe the effects of several alternative
forest management methods (clear cutting, pruning small trees every
year, pruning the largest hardwoods every five years, etc.) on the
long term health of the forest.
3. Observe the
forest plot in the back of the school and see if you can use the simulation
to determine what this land night have looked like 50 years ago.
Software Downloads
You may need this application to decompres files: Stuffit
Expander (Mac or PC). Mac users: be sure to change the "Cross-platform"
setting of StuffIt Expander. The setting "Convert text files
to Macintosh format" must be set to "Never." Otherwise,
StuffIt may garble SimForest's files, forcing you to re-download the
software
Simforest-B (Black Box simulation written in Director):
SimForest-B for the MAC or PC (.zip compression) [click
here to download (Latest Version)]
SimForest-B for the MAC (.sit compression) [click
here to download (Latest Version)]
(Mac users download the second one if you
don't have decompression softrware for .zip files)
Simforest-G (Glass Box simulation written in Java):