Inquiry-based modeling is essential to scientific practice. However, modeling is difficult for novice scientists in part due to limited domain-specific knowledge and quantitative skills. VERA is an interactive tool that helps users construct conceptual models of ecological phenomena, run them as simulations, and examine their predictions. VERA provides cognitive scaffolding for modeling by supplying access to large-scale domain knowledge. The VERA system was tested by college-level students in two different settings: a general ecology lecture course (N=91) at a large southeastern R1 university and a controlled experiment in a research laboratory (N=15). Both studies indicated that engaging students in ecological modeling through VERA helped them better understand basic biological concepts. The latter study additionally revealed that providing access to domain knowledge helped students build more complex models.

The intelligent research assistant, VERA, supports inquiry-based modeling by supplying contextualized large-scale domain knowledge in the Encyclopedia of Life. Learners can use VERA to construct conceptual models of ecological phenomena, run them as simulations, and review their predictions. A study on the use of VERA by college-level students indicates that providing access to large scale but contextualized knowledge helped students build more complex models and generate more hypotheses in problem-solving.

The practice of biologically inspired design requires access to general biological knowledge. In this paper, we describe AskEOL, a question-answering tool for accessing biological knowledge from Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), the world’s largest knowledgebase of biological taxa AskEOL operates in the context of a virtual research assistant, Vera, that provides an interactive environment for building conceptual models of ecological systems and runs experimental simulations on those models.

Citizen scientists have the potential to expand scientific research. The virtual research assistant called VERA empowers citizen scientists to engage in environmental science in two ways. First, it automatically generates simulations based on the conceptual models of ecological phenomena for repeated testing and feedback. Second, it leverages the Encyclopedia of Life biodiversity knowledgebase to support the process of model construction and revision.