Modeling and simulation in high school education - two European examples

Abstract

Discrete simulation is a suitable application area for several disciplines in high schools. One such discipline is computer science. Other disciplines are e.g. mathematics and business. The main principles of modeling information can be practiced in a suitable simulation project. For the implementation of the model on the computer, two different versions of integrated development systems for GPSS have been developed mainly for the purpose of use in high schools. In Germany the version is WinGPSS, dedicated to Windows, and in Sweden WebGPSS, first implemented on the Web. Both systems use the same micro-GPSS simulator kernel. We discuss the goals with, and the experience gained from, the use of these GPSS versions in high schools. Some of the most recent developments of WinGPSS and WebGPSS are also presented.