Integrating the Electronic Desktop into the Natural Sciences

Curriculum Development Project at California State University, Los Angeles

Logistic

Logistic was created for an introductory college course in ecology. It simulates the discrete-generation version of the logistic model of population growth. Carrying capacity and growth rate parameters can be varied to see the effects on population growth. In a view of population numbers versus time, students learn how fluctuations in numbers can result from deterministic nonlinear dynamics. Chaos theory is illustrated by seeing how population numbers at some future generation vary with initial population densities. A "bifurcation diagram" of long term population numbers as a function of the population growth rate shows the nonlinear dynamical principles of period doubling, acyclic chaos, and period locking. Students can use the mouse to selection regions of the bifurcation diagram to "blow up," allowing them to see the fractal geometry of the period doubling cascades. Views can printed or copied and pasted into other applications. A screen image of a Logistic session appears below. Logistic was written by Dr. Robert Desharnais.

Click to download full resolution image (41.1 KB.)

The Electronic Desktop Project is about improving the way science is taught and learned by bringing the power of advanced workstation technology to introductory science students in both major and general education classes. This involves changing the way in which instruction is delivered using multi-media electronic mail, custom written visualization applications, powerful commercial software packages, and easy-to-use graphical applications that bring the resources of the Internet into the electronic classroom. This project has been funded by grants USE 9153162, DUE 9156142 and DUE 9455428 from the National Science Foundation. For more information contact Dr. Robert Desharnais (biology), (213) 343-2056, rdeshar@calstatela.edu, or Dr. Gary Novak (geology), (213) 343-2406, gnovak@calstatela.edu, California State University, Los Angeles, California, 90032.
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