Project-based learning in a computer modelling course

Abstract

The paper reports authors' experience of implementing educational projects in a computer modelling course offered to the students majoring in "Secondary Education (Computer Science)" at Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University. We analyze approaches to teaching mathematical and computer modelling such as: integration of modelling tasks, naturalistic case study, using of role-playing games, possibilities of STEM-education, motivation and positive attitude to modelling training, etc. Then we illustrate the implementation of the project to study the population dynamics of the grape snail Helix pomatia. The implementation of the project splits into several stages: formulation of the problem, presentation of project tasks, brainstorming, development, testing, presentation of results. The study was conducted at Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University within the Norwegian-Ukrainian Project "Development of students' mathematical competencies through Digital Mathematical Modelling" (DeDiMaMo) in partnership with the University of Agder (Norway) and Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University.