Unit 7.2
Integrative Simulation Practice
Design experiments, communicate results, and integrate the full modelling cycle into the capstone.
- Unit 7.1
- Unit 7.2
§ Overview
Unit 7.1 established the credibility of a model: verification, validation, and sensitivity. Unit 7.2 turns from the model to the project. A capstone is not just a model — it is a modelling project, with a question, an experimental design, findings, and an audience. This unit covers the skills that turn a model into a project.
The unit has three parts. Scenario design and experimental planning address the structure of the investigation: which runs to conduct, which comparisons to make, and what the results will mean. Technical and non-technical communication addresses the two audiences a modeller must serve: the analyst who will review the work, and the decision-maker who will use it. Simulation capstone integration addresses the assembly of the entire project and the discipline of archiving a reproducible result.
Lesson 1
Scenario design and experimental planning
Lesson 2
Technical and non-technical communication
Lesson 3
Simulation capstone integration
Capstone
Integrated computational modelling project
§ Learning outcomes
By the end of Unit 7.2 you will be able to
- Design a scenario experiment for a simulation study.
- Plan the experimental runs, including replication and parameter selection.
- Communicate model assumptions, results, and limitations to a technical audience.
- Communicate the same content in plain language for a non-technical audience.
- Integrate the fourteen-step modelling lifecycle into a coherent project plan.
- Produce a reproducible archive of a modelling project.
§ Lessons
Scenario design and experimental planning
Design experiments rather than running one-off trials. Which runs to conduct, which comparisons to make, and what the results will mean.
Lesson 2Technical and non-technical communication
Write for the decision-maker as well as the analyst. Two audiences, two formats, one set of results.
Lesson 3Simulation capstone integration
Assemble the full modelling cycle into one coherent project, and archive it for reproducibility.
§ Integrating the cycle
The capstone exercises the fourteen-step lifecycle in its entirety. The lifecycle is not a checklist to be worked through once; it is a cycle, and the capstone will revisit several steps as findings from later steps inform earlier ones. The integration skill is knowing when to iterate and when to declare a step complete.
The capstone is a deliverable, not a discovery
A capstone is not a research project in search of a finding. It is a modelling project in search of a well-supported answer to a well-posed question. The measure of success is not the novelty of the result but the rigour of the process and the clarity of the communication.
§ Self-check
Check your understanding
Question 1
A scenario experiment is:
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A designed set of runs comparing alternatives.
Question 2
A technical report and a plain-language summary:
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Have different purposes and different audiences. Both are required; neither substitutes for the other.
Question 3
The capstone should exercise:
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The full modelling cycle, from purpose to archive.
Question 4
A reproducible archive of a modelling project should include:
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Model files, inputs, seeds, software versions, and documentation. All are required for the project to be reproducible.
Question 5
The measure of a capstone project's success is:
Show answer
The rigour of the process and the clarity of the communication.