When the Model Is a Program
Fred G. Martin, Margret A. Hjalmarson, Phillip C. Wankat · 2020
This chapter explores a special case of modeling activities where computer programming is the modeling activity. It examines two example domains: one from computer science and one from chemical engineering. Both examples are used to demonstrate the characteristics of the modeling processes that are part of programming. Before the description of the programming activities, the chapter explains aspects of the models and modeling theory of conceptual development that connect to the programming. It describes how models and a modeling perspective on teaching, learning and problem solving is well-suited to thinking about the design of computer programming tasks for engineering and computer science students. The chapter also explores how students come to understand the behavior of small mobile robots as they develop the robots’ physical characteristics, select and mount sensors on them, and finally write code to control the robots’ movements.