The importance of interdisciplinary collaboration has become increasingly necessary as science probes for deeper understanding.  Today physicists, chemists, biologists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and engineers are all working together on a variety of subjects, each one bringing his or her expertise to the table as these collaborative groups study more and more interdisciplinary topics. 

        This tutorial is also a collaboration among teachers, mathematicians, physicists, and biologists to provide a basic introduction to random mathematical processes and their relationship to biology.

        We hope this tutorial will encourage students and teachers to explore the inter-relationships between the sciences and mathematics.  The future of scientific discovery requires closer ties and a better understanding of “the big picture”.  Enjoy.

 How it works

This section gives a brief overview of the tutorial you are about to explore. For the more advanced tutorials, we assume you’ve worked through previous material so there will be very little review. Read this section carefully as it explains
(a) the theory behind the topic,
(b) how the model works, and
(c) how it is used in biology.

Running the model

This section describes what the demonstration will do, and includes suggestions and hints about the demonstration and the model you are examining. There also may be specific questions you’ll need to answer (and possible either print out or Email your teacher) before proceeding on with the tutorial, so be sure to put your thinking cap on before going on to Try it!

Try it!

This section runs the model. Many of these will have several “layers” so you will have the opportunity to work through many different versions of the model. Try to do as many as possible as each trial will show you more about how the topic works.

Find out more

Here are the links that will allow you to travel beyond the scope of this tutorial. In addition, this link also takes you to a complete glossary of all the key terms you will run across while working through the tutorials.

Print or Email

Once in a while, your teacher will want to see your progress (as well as confirm that you are indeed working through the tutorial). This section will allow you to print out or email a copy of your work to prove that you’ve actually completed one or more sections of the tutorial.