Integrating the Electronic Desktop into the Natural Sciences

Curriculum Development Project at California State University, Los Angeles

PredatorPrey

PredatorPrey was created for college courses in introductory biology and ecology. It graphically illustrates the dynamics of the Lotka-Volterra mathematical model of a predator and its prey. The two axes represent the population densities of each species. Clicking the mouse anywhere in the graph defines a pair of initial densities for a simulation of predation. The trajectory which flows from the initial condition is the solution to the Lotka-Volterra model. Up to fifty simulations can be executed simultaneously. Students explore the predicted behavior of the model by choosing different sets of parameter values and initial conditions. The equilibrium can be plotted on the graph. This application demonstrates the ecological concepts of neutral predator-prey cycles, damped oscillations, species coexistence, and stability. A screen image of a typical PredatorPrey session appears below. PredatorPrey was written by Mr. Gabriel Rodas, a computer science student at Cal State LA.

Click to download full resolution image (61.9 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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