CLOUDES is an ongoing STEM research effort, led by researchers at the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center at Old Dominion University, focused on making simulations accessible to anyone.
As such, we expect students, from middle to graduate schools, to benefit the most as they will have access to an intuitive simulation environment that focuses on the modeling process (moving from observation, to conceptual model, to simulation model and ending with analysis of results). These capabilities are available through a browser across computing platforms with no need for writing code.
To maximize student outreach, we encourage educators to use CLOUDES in the classroom. We have found the ability to document models, share them and reuse them very useful in our teaching activities. In our testing/teaching sessions, students of all ages have found the environment easy to use when focusing on learning how to model not on learning the tool.
The CLOUDES Manual, and the available short videos, is a good starting point as it focuses on the modeling process aided by the environment. Should you have questions or comments please send us a note to cloudes@odu.edu.