Proposed Model workflow
These are mockups of how I would like Model to function. The idea is to capture as much of the modelling process, and its iterations, in the activity. This is an easy way to generate documentation for models, and encourages best practices. What is not shown is a method for navigating through the process, but this could probably be accomplished on a toolbar at the top of the screen
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The startup page of model, visible when started from the home view, contains a simple choice to document the whole process or jump straight to modeling.
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We want to enable kids to express themselves and think about the problem at hand in different ways. When describing the problem to be modelled, we would like them to be able to not only write a description, but also draw or take pictures.
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This is probably one of the less interesting panels, but it is important to identify the relevant stocks and flows of the system.
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There should be an easy way for kids to specify, and understand, the time horizon of the simulation. Using several natural language constructs, such as 'now' instead of '0', could help with this. It would also be nice to allow access to things like the save-step and time-step, but these are probably not helpful for the beginner so they will be hidden by default.
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We want to enable kids to express themselves and think about the problem at hand in different ways. When describing the problem to be modelled, we would like them to be able to not only write a description, but also draw or take pictures.