Perspectives of Final Year Students on Modeling and Analysis of Complex Systems and Their Properties

Modeling a complex system is a daunting task for students as several perspectives need to be employed at varying resolution levels. Students need to abstract a real system, understand the system entities, their interactions, and the effects these interactions have on system properties. In addition, students need to validate and evaluate their models. As such, teaching modeling and simulation of complex systems requires an in-depth understanding of the challenges faced by students in order to design the best learning experience. In this paper, we explore the reflections of 24 students after submitting two modeling and simulation assignments in a complex systems course. We identify that students struggle with the chosen simulation tool, as expected, but also that focusing on system entities and their interaction is not straightforward due to several system complexities and learning barriers. We discuss three course design principles to address these barriers, focused on scaffolded tool introduction, abstraction introduction, and mastery learning.