The document discusses the use of simulation software Stella in education. It provides an example of using Stella to model the relationship between owl and rat populations and the impact on palm oil resources. The summary explores the benefits and disadvantages of using simulations in education. Simulations allow experimenting and understanding variable relationships at a lower cost compared to real experiments. However, they require expensive software and trained teachers. They also may not reflect real-world consequences of mistakes.

1. INTRODUCTION
The definition or concept of simulation is the most familiar or popular among the person that
usually work using computer or to the information technology (IT) student. The stimulation in
definition of dictionary is to encouragement of something to make it develop or become more
active. The simulation also can be defined as a system that operation of model system. For the
science concept it model can be reconfigured by experiment. In addition, this operation of the
model can studied the properties concerning the behavior of the actual system or in subsystem
that can be inferred.
According to Professor Diana Laurilland (2002), states that higher education must
support a professional approach to teaching that mirror for research. The simulation is the one
application system that can use to evaluate the performance of system under different
configuration of interest and long period of real time. This supported by Professor Diana, that
said by using this computer-simulation, it allow the user to make a change the variable and
display the results.
There are many process improvement that the student or research can make using this
simulation system. By this system they are able to do the experiment in short time and can cut
the costing to run the research during studied. It suitable with the new concept of now a day
education. In the same time, this system has uses widely in our country because there are
efficient because it can be repeated as many time rather than real life due to lack of timing and
people involved. Lastly, simulation goals is act as analysis tool for predicting the effect of
changes and design tool to predict the performance of new system.
Stella software is the one example of simulation system that had been used in
education. It is a modelling software package that diagrams, charts and uses animation help the
users discover relationship between variables and helps simplify model building.
WHAT IS STELLASOFTWARE
STELLA (short for Systems Thinking, Experimental Learning Laboratory with Animation; also
marketed as iThink) is a visual programming language for system dynamics modeling
introduced by Barry Richmond in 1985. The program, distributed by isee systems (formerly High
Performance Systems) allows users to run models created as graphical representations of a
system using four fundamental building blocks. STELLA has been used in academia as a

2. teaching tool and has been utilized in a variety of research and business applications. The
program has received positive reviews, being praised in particular for its ease of use and low
cost. (Instructor: J. Wu )
SIMULATION IN EDUCATION
In this new era, the simulation system is not something ‘hot’ in education because it has been
used in many decades as a tool to supporting the traditional approach of teaching and learning.
By running this time, the simulation in education still continues uses by society especially to the
student coz now a days kids was exposed to gadgets and equipment of technology such as
hand phone, laptop, and tablet since they are at young age. Therefore, the way or system
education also need to change consistently with the time. So, the traditional chalk and talk was
not available in the education system anymore due to lack of affective and efficiency to the
student like as boring and less fun in the class. By present of this simulation application
software, the student can be more effective, creative and rational to solve the problem base on
learning. In addition, the student also can improved the high thinking order level.
According to educational philosophy, states that the student need to achieve the
objective of the learning of the topic in the within a predetermined time by maximize student
content. So, the new method of study has been introduced to make sure the student are able to
achieve the objectives. There are a lots of benefit simulation system where the student can
improve their skills and allow them to learn from error. Besides, they are able to gain a greater
understanding about the consequences of their actions and the need to reduce any errors and
simulated learning also can be set up anytime and locations, and repeated as often as
necessary. Student also can address hands-on and thinking skills, including knowledge-in-
action, procedures, decision-making, and effective communication. In the same time, the main
proposed of this simulation has been used in education is because of the result can get in short
time which allow them to understand exactly what went wrong and how they can improved it.
(Moorthy, Vincent, & Darzi, 2005),
Like the every things has their own benefits and badness it same goes with simulation
tools where it very expensive and require constant updates and maintenance. It also can be
apply to certainly situation only. Besides that, there also no real consequences for mistakes may
result for students under performing and not being fully engaged in the training, thus producing

3. inaccurate results (Gray, 2002).The simulation can be used as education learning in many
subject in school or university for a research for but it had been used widely in experimental for
science subject by manipulated some variable to get the different assumption result.
ADVANTAGES OF SIMULATION
Simulation nowadays is quite popular in education where it has been used widely in education
especially for students. Simulation can engage the students in active learning. The student in
high demand of technology in this era normally like to different kind method of study, so by
performing or using this simulation software teachers are able to attract the student to perform
well in education achievement. This is because students are inspiring to study and discover new
thing in education.
Besides, the benefit of simulators is allow the student to study a problem at several
different levels of abstraction. By approaching a system at a higher level of abstraction, the
student is able to understand the behaviors and interactions of all the high level components
within the system and is therefore better equipped to counteract the complexity of the overall
system. This complexity may simply overwhelm the student if the problem had been
approached from a lower level. As the student better understands the operation of the higher
level components through the use of the simulator, the lower level components may then be
designed and subsequently simulated for verification and performance evaluation. For example
by performing the experiment using STELLA the students can understand more the concept of
that experiment.
In addition, the simulation has high potential to stimulate students in deep learning
concept that empowers the understanding of the surface topic. From this simulation software
the student can achieved more comprehension during conduct the experiment by themselves
and can find the relationship between the variable in order to get the conclusion of the
experiment. By this software the student able to predict the pattern results of some experiment
either it increase or decrease by manipulated it variable. This indirectly helps the students to
control and explore various types of experiment.
One of the advantages of simulation is it can minimize the error of the experiment. So,
by using the simulation the student able to get the accurate results rather than in real
experiment results. In the same times, student can save their time and energy with using

4. simulation, where they can directly perform their experiment by using this simulation software.
Other that, it also are very quick development of complex model and short learning process is
needed.
Simulation in education also want to expose to the student how the researcher or
scientist form their research. This can make the student more fun and in learning process
because they can change or setup the variable based on their decision and the simulation will
predict quickly the result in the same time. This shows the simulation is one effective study tools
or system in simplify teachers and students work. Lastly, this simulation also provide to teachers
a better ways access their students. Simulations can be instrumented so that teachers can
monitor students, waiting until students get into a jam that indicates that they are ready to hear
something the teacher wants to convey.
DISADVANTAGES OF SIMULATION
While computers can be a valuable tool, there are disadvantages to integrating these
technological devices into a classroom. Computers offer convenience and allow students to
create polished products, but with these advantages come potential problems that could lead to
decreased educational effectiveness within a classroom and allow for problems down the line in
the child's schooling. There are some disadvantages of using Stella simulation. Those who wish
to use simulation firstly need to buy the license before they can use the software. It could be
burdening for school students or university students who wish to use and learn from the Stella
simulation. Simulators can be very expensive and require constant updates and maintenance.
Next, the simulation can only be accessed using a PC or laptop. Some students who don’t have
PC or laptop need to be depending on school computers to use and learn. Plus, they cannot
use the facility for a longer time because it’s a shared item with everyone in the school. They
don’t have the opportunity to explore the simulation after they learned in class because
someone else might use the computer.
Besides, some students may not be able to use the simulation because there is no
proper tutorial or guidance from experience person. Some students need guidance from
someone who already used with Stella simulation. Some tutorials can be confusing and hard to
do base on online tutorial and might find themselves lost along the process. Students also have
to access the internet to search for the tutorial. Starting to use the software could be a major
problem for some. Simulation can be a big problem to the users who don’t even know how to

5. operate computer or PC. Elder people who lack computer literacy need help from youngster to
help operate the computer and the simulation. The users need to do two things which are
learning how to operate the computer or laptops and also learn the simulation. The software
must be user friendly. Despite the advantages of simulation presented above, simulators, like
most tools, do have their drawbacks. Many of these problems can be attributed to the
computationally intensive processing required by some simulators.
As a consequence, the results of the simulation may not be readily available after the
simulation has started -- an event that may occur instantaneously in the real world may actually
take hours to mimic in a simulated environment. The delays may be due to an exceedingly large
number of entities being simulated or due to the complex interactions that occur between the
entities within the system being simulated. Consequently, these simulators are restricted by
limited hardware platforms which cannot meet the computational demands of the simulator.
However, as more powerful platforms and improved simulation techniques become available,
this problem is becoming less of a concern. Another means of dealing with the computational
complexity is to employ the hierarchical approach to design and simulation so as to permit the
designer to operate at a higher level of design.
However, this technique may introduce its own problems as well. By operating at too
high an abstraction level, the designer may tend to oversimplify or even omit some of the lower
level details of the system. If the level of abstraction is too high, then it may be impossible to
actually build the device physically due to the lack of sufficiently detailed information within the
design. Actual construction of the system will not be able to occur until the user provides low
level information concerning the system's subcomponents.
Staff needs to be trained on how to use the software and/or hardware and this takes up
time and costs money. Staff which I would like highlight here are teachers. They need to learn
and master the software and simulation before they can show to the students. This will add
more work for the teachers to learn and practice the simulation. The teachers might be
overstressed due to this situation. Computers present an added challenge to educators because
teachers must deal with students of varying computer literacy levels. Some students enter the
classroom fully versed in the applications of a computer, while others come with no prior
experience. It is difficult for teachers to deal with this vast difference and ensure that they
provide students who need assistance with that assistance while not requiring capable students
to slow their academic progress and wait.

6. Although there are a lot of advantages to using a computer there are also many
disadvantages to using a computer (like most things in life). A computer requires a lot of
repetitive movement that can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome. For example, moving your hand
from your keyboard to a mouse and typing are all repetitive and can cause injuries. Too much of
anything is bad and too much sitting for a long time and becoming a mouse patato can lead to
health problems. Even substituting a traditional desk for a standing desk is not a perfect solution
since it has been found that even standing for long periods of time is not healthy but can be
better than sitting. With a reduced attention span, it is also not uncommon to multitask more and
work on more than one thing at the same time.
Many studies show that multitasking is less productive, can cause more mistakes, and
may even be bad for your brain. When computers and other technological tools are used
constantly, students develop a dependence upon these tools. Just as pupils who are never
required to do math without a calculator lose the ability to solve math problems manually,
students who use computers for nearly every activity experience a decline in their ability to spell
and even write by hand. Students must practice these simple skills without technological tools
regularly to ensure that their skills do not atrophy. While computer games are just as, if not
more, engaging than board or card games, they do not afford the same degree of player
interaction. Many computer games are individual pursuits. When students complete these digital
games and activities they miss out on the interaction practice that that they receive through the
playing of traditional games.
SAMPLE MODEL
Our sample for this simulation is the using of Stella Simulation in control of biological control in
Biosawit. This experiment will represent of the relationship between the population owl and rats
effect in the palm-oil ecosystem.
DISCUSSION
The purpose of this attempt is to develop a model of system that illustrates population of owls
and rats and the palm-oil resource. We had used a powerful tool of materials form the Stella
software. Our attempt here was to abbreviate the discussion and explain more about the using
of Stella. So, in our model a control of biological control in Biosawit is, we need to understand
the relationship of each population towards palm-oil produce. Each population is dependent on
the each other to make the ecosystem around them.

7. Graph 1 : The Relationship Between Population Of Owl And Rats (Original Graph)
From the graph above, the number was set automatically by the software the population of owls
is 12 and population of rats is 20000. So, we can see clearly that, at the early year, all
population is drop suddenly because of lack of food supply. After that, both of population is
increase at 11.00 years because the palm-oil resource is increase. So they get the food and
maintain their population. Based on the graph, the relationship between owls and rats towards
palm oil ecosystem are constant and positive. This is show that the population of both species is
equilibrium.

8. Graph 2 : Low population of owls Vs. high population of rats
Based on the graph 2, low population of owls Vs. high population of rats we can see that when
the quantity of owl is 5 and the rats is 20000, the relationship between owl and rats is not
equilibrium and not constant. At the early year, the population is high and drop after that. This
happened because the quantity of palm-oil is not in much and their had lack of food. Then after
a few year, the produce of palm-oil is increase and the population for both species is increase
and not constant. But, the palm-oil resource still maintain constant.

9. Graph 3 : High population of owls Vs. low population of rats
At the beginning, in this graph we can see the population of owl is 5 and rats 2000 is in
dangerous or not equilibrium. When the high population of owls it will effect the growth of rats.
The decrease of owl and rats will effect the palm-oil resource at the 20.00 years. Where the
population of rats increase and the palm oil resource wil decrease. And the owl is not exists
anymore. At the last of year, the palm-oil resource.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, simulation and modeling is the most powerful tools in assisting in the teaching
and learning process in school. Because it will help student to collect data and give the
prediction in the future end of the simulation by years. It is more easy and simple. Through the
simulation and modeling also, it can promote the deep of learning that can enhance and
understanding and students can know the relationship between the variables in the model.
Other than that, this simulation and modeling also provide interesting and exciting mode
of learning to new generation. Nowadays, our beta generation had exposed more to internet
and gadgets. So, it can make their explore more about this simulation and get experience, even
though there are some disadvantages of simulation such as it can be expensive to measure
how one thins affects another.

10. REFERENCES
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