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Project GUTS teacher & facilitator guides

Posted June 19, 2018 by sgibbs

These guides are aimed at helping teachers or workshop facilitators help their students or participants be independent learners while working with computer models. They are a work in progress - final versions will be uploaded soon. Please feel free to point out any corrections or additions in a discussion thread -- Thanks!

Feedback loops

Posted May 15, 2017 by sgibbs

This document provides background information on feedback loops in complex adaptive systems.

What are the chances?

Posted March 30, 2017 by turtle

An off-line activity to introduce students to concepts of randomness and how to program percent chance using a slider in StarLogo Nova.

Daisy world

Posted April 3, 2017 by turtle

A model demonstrating the albedo effect of black or white surfaces. Use as a part of the Climate Change and Agriculture Project GUTS Curricular Unit, or as a stand-alone model, activity, and video.

Scavenger Hunt for Teachers

Posted April 3, 2017 by turtle

This scavenger hunt asks teachers to locate various Project GUTS resources. A fun tool to increase familiarity with Project GUTS and what's available.

Understanding by Design

Posted April 5, 2017 by turtle

Understanding by Design (UbD) curriculum offers a 3-stage “backward design” framework for developing units of study. The same process guides larger-scale curriculum development for courses and
programs (macro level). The UbD curriculum structure for building a coherent curriculum spirals around “big ideas,” essential questions, and core assessments.

BCSC 5e Instructional Model

Posted April 5, 2017 by turtle

BSCS (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study) paper explaining the 5e instructional model. The model describes a teaching sequence that can be used for entire programs, specific units, and individual lessons. The BSCS 5E Instructional Model plays a significant role in the curriculum development process as well as the enactment of curricular materials in science classrooms.

Rubric ideas for assessing computer models

Posted April 5, 2017 by turtle

In December 2015, Code.org teachers were asked for their ideas on 4 important criteria to include in any rubric used to assess computer models. Here are their ideas, in a forum discussion.

Code.org and SLNova Computer Science Concepts

Posted May 13, 2017 by kristico

This is a 4 week unit for a Computer Technology class in a middle school. Students are introduced to computer science concepts through lessons in Code.org's Course 3. Students then apply those concepts in SLNova projects.

Why Model?

Posted May 15, 2017 by sgibbs

A paper describing the author's reasons why modeling is essential to science.

Teaching Equity Resources

Posted June 4, 2018 by sgibbs

Here are links to the resources used in CS in Science workshops to discuss equity in computer science.

Guía de referencia de bloques de StarLogo NOVA

Posted May 16, 2017 by Rizzi

Se trata de una guía que describe los bloques de comandos más comunes utilizados en StarLogo NOVA en el curso MOOC de Project GUTS en español. Están agrupados según el módulo en que se utilizan.

Guía de estudiantes para la actividad "Dados y datos" (Dice & Data)

Posted May 16, 2017 by Rizzi

Esta es la hoja de actividad para los estudiantes para "Dados y datos", una actividad de probabilidad. La probabilidad juega un rol importante en los modelos de sistemas complejos adaptativos. En esta actividad se programan agentes para imitar el movimiento de criaturas en el mundo real. También eventos aleatorios que ocurren cuando los agentes interactúen como por ejemplo contagiar una persona a otra.

¿Complejo o complicado?

Posted May 17, 2017 by Rizzi

¿Complejo o Complicado? utiliza una presentación de diapositivas para crear una actividad que se utiliza para involucrar a los estudiantes en argumentar basándose en evidencias y mejorar su comprensión sobre los sistemas adaptativos complejos.

The Giraffe and the Platypus

Posted June 12, 2017 by sgibbs

This is an activity that allows teachers in a workshop to experience and explore the equity issue involved in differences in background knowledge of students.

Kinesthetic Flower Turtles Activity

Posted August 3, 2017 by carl

This activity is an extension to the CS in Science Module 1, Lesson 2, between activity 1 and activity 2. It is a kinesthetic activity to show how the agents behave according to a certain program. It can replace the activity that is there or be used as an extension or add on to the listed activities.

Exploring the Wiggle Walk and Collisions via a Kinesthetic Activity

Posted August 4, 2017 by jhenderson

This activity teaches the Wiggle Walk blocks (random right by ___ degrees, random left by___ degrees), through a kinesthetic activity and explores when a programmer would want to code agents to move this way. It avoids the statical analysis of the random probabilities found in Module One, Lesson 4 Activity 1: Probability with Dice and Data and Colliding Turtles, while still addressing the end goals of the Module One Lesson 4.

Tips for Facilitators

Posted May 5, 2018 by sgibbs

Suggestions on best practices for teaching Project GUTS lessons, by acting as a facilitator to student learning, rather than a lecturer on your known content.

Debugging Guide

Posted May 26, 2018 by sgibbs

A short guide for identifying and fixing common bugs in StarLogo Nova 2.0.

Battle of the Agents

Posted March 29, 2017 by turtle

A take on the classic board game Battleship, this paper and pencil activity is a fun way to help students understand the use of x and y coordinates in StarLogo Nova. After the activity, students can use the StarLogo Nova model to experiment with x and y locations in a game-like context.

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