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Natural Selection Programming

Posted May 11, 2021 by sgibbs

A lesson for middle school science that uses a variation of the rabbits and grass program to explore concepts of natural selection.

CS in Science Module 3: Ecosystems as Complex Systems (for StarLogo Nova 2.0)

Posted July 27, 2018 by turtle

This Life Science module begins with an exploration of a simple predator-prey model to consider who eats whom—and what happens when one population grows faster than another. Students develop their own model of a local ecosystem and learn about ecosystem dynamics, producers and consumers, and interdependent relationships within an ecosystem. This module has been updated for StarLogo Nova 2.0 (HTML5/JavaScript version, updated 2017).

Interview with Hal Scheintaub

Posted August 2, 2017 by ilee

Teachers with GUTS interviewed Hal Scheintaub and demo of StarLogo Nova models created by his students on August 2, 2017.

The Greenhouse Effect

Posted July 27, 2018 by sgibbs

A short video on the basics of the greenhouse effect, used in CS in Science, Module 2 (Greenhouse gas model).

CS in Science Module 2: Shared Water Resources (StarLogo Nova 2.0)

Posted July 27, 2018 by turtle

In this Earth Science module, students will investigate the importance of ground water and the impacts of water usage on aquifer levels. They will also explore how to model important parts of the water cycle, including evaporation and infiltration of water into different types of soils to recharge the aquifers. This updated resource corresponds to StarLogo Nova 2.0 (HTML5/JavaScript version), a modeling and simulation environment developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Papercatchers

Posted July 27, 2018 by turtle

Papercatchers is a participatory simulation in which students learn about population growth and limits to growth. Students play the role of members of a growing population, follow simple rules governing survival and reproduction, and collect and graph data.

CS in Science Module 5: Greenhouse Gases

Posted July 27, 2018 by turtle

This Earth Science module explores greenhouse gases and climate change. The global climate system is presented as a complex system with feedback loops and interconnected processes. The goal is to clarify what is known, what scientists believe is happening and how climate change impacts our environment and species. Students use, modify, and customize an agent-based model of the build-up of greenhouse gases and its impact on the climate. This is an alternative to the Module 2: Water Resources

DECODE NYC Virtual Lesson Plan - MODIFYING A MODEL: OMNIVOROUS FOXES

Posted January 27, 2021 by wellina

This remote lesson serves as an opportunity for students to modify the code of an agent-based model to reflect the complexity of real-world food webs. Students will evaluate theeffectiveness of the modifications based on their understanding of population dynamics.

What's Represented?

Posted June 12, 2019 by ilee

These exercises ask the learner to identify abstractions in the computer model as compared to a diagram or image of a natural phenomenon.

Module 3 Lesson 1 - Ecosystems as Complex Adaptive systems

Posted January 30, 2020 by wellina

In this lesson, students will be introduced to ecosystems concepts through an activity called "Papercatchers", a participatory simulation in which students play the part of agents in a simulation. After playing the “game” that illustrates population dynamics and carrying capacity, students will view a computer model of a simple ecosystem. Through the model, students will review concepts of population growth, producers and consumers, and the movement of energy through an ecosystem.

Module 3 Lesson 2 - Rabbits and Grass Model

Posted January 30, 2020 by wellina

In this lesson, students will participate in two activities that USE the Rabbits and Grass model. The first activity is a look under the hood at the model to understand what was included and left out of the model (abstraction). In
the second activity, students will learn to design and conduct systematic experiments using the model as an experimental test bed. They will instrument their model to collect data, then analyze data and report out on
their findings.

Module 3 Lesson 3 - Adding a Predator

Posted February 10, 2020 by wellina

In this lesson, students will modify the Rabbits and Grass model by adding a predator, a Mountain Lion, to answer a new question: “Does adding a top predator increase or decrease the stability of an ecosystem?” In the second activity, students will design and run experiments to see if adding a predator has an impact on the ecosystem. This activity will reinforce the concepts of energy flow through ecosystems and the often unexpected results of interactions in complex adaptive systems.

Module 3 Lesson 4 - Create Your Own Ecosystem Model

Posted February 10, 2020 by wellina

In this lesson, students will design their own ecosystems projects consisting of a question, experimental design and model. In the first activity, students will learn about the computational science cycle and use it to scope their project. This leads to a second activity where they start designing and implementing their model.

COVID-19 Modelling Challenge

Posted March 18, 2020 by wellina

Learn basic StarLogo Nova skills then use those skills to customize your model to reflect how Coronavirus spreads. To that model, you can add different strategies and study the impact of the strategies on containing COVID-19’s spread.

Decode NYC Models

Posted January 13, 2021 by wellina

In the NSF-funded DecodeNYC program at the American Museum of Natural History, middle school students use the agent-based game and simulation programming environment StarLogo Nova to use, modify, decode, and create scientific models to test different strategies for fighting Lyme disease and answer questions about their urban ecosystem.

¿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.

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