Jump to page content Jump to navigation

College Board

AP Central

Home > AP Courses and Exams > Course Home Pages > AP Marine Biology Simulation Case Study

AP Marine Biology Simulation Case Study

Case studies are a teaching tool used in many disciplines. They have been a part of the AP Computer Science curriculum since the 1994-95 academic year. Case studies give students an opportunity to:

Read source code written by someone else.
Work with a program of significant length.
Become familiar with good coding, design, and documentation practice.
Learn about testing in a non-trivial context.
Think through design and implementation tradeoffs.
Experience an approximation of the master/apprentice relationship.

The AP Marine Biology Simulation Case Study presents a simulation program designed to help marine biologists study fish movement in a small, bounded environment such as a lake or bay. It has been a required part of the AP Computer Science A and AB curricula since the 2003-04 academic year. (Computer Science A students are expected to be familiar with the material in chapters 1 to 4 of the case study narrative; AB students are expected to be familiar with the material in all five chapters.)

Downloading and Using the Case Study
To download the complete Marine Biology Simulation Case Study (a zip file that includes code, documentation, data, and other useful files), click on JavaMBS.zip below. If desired, you may download just the Narrative folder, which contains the chapter files (1 to 5) and Appendix files (A to G), or you may download these files individually.

Once you have downloaded the JavaMBS.zip file, you will need to open (unzip) it. Depending on the software you have on your system, you may be able to do this by just double-clicking on the zip file. In order to compile and run the simulation program, you will also need a Java compiler and run-time environment. To read or print the narrative, you will need Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®, available in "See also" below.

When you unzip the JavaMBS.zip distribution file, it will create a folder or directory called JavaMBS. That folder will contain several sub-folders and a file called index.html that serves as an annotated table of contents for the distribution.

Briefly, the Code folder contains the Java source files for the classes students will study as part of the case study. The DataFiles folder contains initial configuration files for creating fish in an environment. The Documentation folder contains class documentation for the case study and a help file that describes how to use the graphical user interface to run the simulation. The ExecutionInformation folder contains information about compiling and running the Marine Biology Simulation in several common environments. The Narrative folder contains the narrative document that introduces students to the simulation program, describes modifications to it, and provides analysis questions and programming exercises.

As you get started, you should:

Read the index.html file in the JavaMBS folder to become more familiar with the files and folders in the distribution.
Look in the ExecutionInformation folder to find out how to compile and run the Marine Biology Simulation program on your system.
Print the narrative (unless you are going to read it online). Computer Science A students are only responsible for material in the first four chapters. Appendices A, B, C, E, and G are also useful for the A course. The entire document is required for the AB course.
You may wish to read or print the help file for the program's graphical user interface (MBSHelp.html in the Documentation folder).
As you work through the case study narrative, you will use the files in the DataFiles folder, read the class documentation in the Documentation folder, and read and modify the files in the Code folder. Before modifying any of the files in the Code folder, you should make a backup copy of these files in a separate folder.