Ecology plays a central role in biology and deserves special attention in scientific education. Nonetheless, the teaching and learning\nof ecology face a number of difficulties. In order to tackle these difficulties, electronic games have recently been used to mediate\necology learning. This paper presents an electronic game that fulfills these gaps in order to make the studentsââ?¬â?¢ work with ecological\nconcepts more concrete, active, and systematic. The paper presents the computational model of the ecological system included in\nthe game, based on a real ecological case, a sand dune ecosystem located in the semiarid Caatinga biome, namely, the sand dunes\nof the middle SÃ?Å?ao Francisco River, in the state of Bahia, Brazil. It includes various ecological relationships between endemic lizards\nand the physical environment, preys, predators, cospecifics, and plants.The engine of the game simulates the physical conditions\nof the ecosystem (dune topography and climate conditions with their circadian and circannual cycles), its biota (plant species\nand animal species), and ecological relationships (predator-prey encounters, cospecific relationships).We also present results from\none classroom study of a teaching sequence structured around Calangos, which showed positive outcomes regarding high school\nstudentsââ?¬â?¢ understanding of thermal regulation in ectothermic animals.
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