What is Easy Java Simulations?

Easy Java Simulations (from now on, Ejs) is a software tool designed for the creation of discrete computer simulations.

A discrete computer simulation, or simply a computer simulation, is a computer program that tries to reproduce, for pedagogical or scientific purposes, a natural phenomenon through the visualization of the different states that it can have. Each of these states is described by a set of variables that change in time due to the iteration of a given algorithm.

All this means that Ejs is a program that helps you create other programs; more precisely, scientific simulations. 

There exist many programs that help create other programs. What makes Ejs different from most other products is that Ejs is not designed to make life easier for professional programmers, but has been conceived by science teachers, for science teachers and students. That is, for people who, like you and me, are more interested in the content of the simulation, the simulated phenomenon itself, and much less in the technical aspects needed to build the simulation.

Hence, Ejs provides a conceptual structure and simplified tools that allow concentrate most of your time in the description of the model of the phenomenon you want to simulate.

In particular, Ejs creates Java applets that are independent, multi-platform, which can be visualized using any Web browser (and therefore distributed through the Internet), read data across the net and be controlled using scripts from within html pages.

Because there is an educational value in the process of creating a simulation, Ejs can also be used as a pedagogical tool itself. With it, you can ask your students to create a simulation by themselves, perhaps by following some guidelines provided by you. This way, Ejs can help your students make their conceptions explicit. 

Used in groups, it can also improve your students’ capabilities to discuss and communicate about science.