Cowgames: Developing and Implementing an Online Cattle Breeding Simulation

Providing authentic experiences, those that allow students to apply their knowledge beyond simple recollection, are a requirement in any science classroom. Animal Science classes are no exception, however providing such experiences can be difficult due to time, money, and safety. To overcome this challenge, educators must turn to alternative sources of experiential learning. The development of subject specific simulations is one alternative rapidly gaining popularity in classrooms across all fields. Simulations allow students to make decisions and see results immediately, they are cost effective, and safety concerns are eliminated. They have been shown to be particularly useful in classes that focus on abstract or long-term concepts. Genetics is certainly such a class as it takes years in some species to see the effects of certain breeding decisions. This benefit is further supported by the success of a previously available simulation Cow Game. Due to these benefits for the Animal Breeding and Genetics classroom our objective was to design, develop, and implement an online-accessible cattle breeding simulation. To achieve this, we began by interviewing current undergraduate Animal Genetics and Breeding educators to gain a better sense of what we should include in the application. We determined absolute requirements included an easily accessed, self-contained program that illustrated effects of different selection methods, correlated and uncorrelated traits, lethal recessives, and genomic enhanced EPDs. To meet these requirements our simulation is an internet-accessible, standalone application that includes Birth Weight, Yearling Weight, and Marbling EPD information, appropriate trait relationships, integration of genomic enhanced EPDs, a selection index, and lethal recessives. To produce a high-quality product, we have employed an agile implementation plan coupled with formative assessments at the University of Missouri and Michigan State University. Through this implementation process we have been able to integrate feedback in the simulation design and features. This has allowed us to tailor our product to our potential end users making the simulation easy to follow for students and easy to integrate for educators.