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What are the chances?

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

Traffic Patterns for StarLogo TNG

Why do traffic jams form?

Each year the number of paved miles grows by roughly 20,000 miles. When traffic gets too congested, traffic engineers must consider changes to existing roads or intersections. This unit engages students in interactive activities to explore pattern formation in complex systems, and in the use, modification, and creation of agent-based models to conduct experiments on simple virtual traffic systems, to study whether proposed road changes will the desired effect.

Opinion Dynamics with StarLogo TNG

Does Your Opinion Count? 
People form opinions on topics from current styles to political issues to product preferences, and often our opinions are based on information from others, rather than on our own experience. In this unit, we explore Opinion Dynamics as an aspect of human society that can be studied as a complex adaptive system. Here, agents representing humans can influence and be influenced by other agents both directly (one-on-one) and on a more global scale (advertising, etc).

Fall Introductory Unit for Project GUTS after-school clubs

The Project GUTS after-school clubs were structured to have 10-12 week units in the Fall and Spring Semesters, with a 4-6 weeks Introduction to StarLogo Nova and computer science concepts, followed by a 4-6 week content unit. This is the curriculum page for the Fall Semester Unit introductory weeks. It assumes students are new to Project GUTS and to StarLogo Nova. If you have repeating students, see the Resources Link to Other activities to Introduce Project GUTS for additional ideas.

What are the chances?

This activity to explore randomness and how to program percent chance in StarLogo Nova.

Random Walks with code blocks for StarLogo Nova

Modeling the movement of agents (people,molecules, cars or ideas) is an important part of modeling systems. Different agents will have varying amount of randomness in their “walks” which can have an impact on systems. In this activity, students will apply the concept of randomness to a simple StarLogo program in which the agents will use ‘random’ blocks to ‘wiggle’ as they move around SpaceLand. This programming activity follows the ‘What are the Chances?" activity.

Math Challenges in StarLogo TNG

This activity reviews the use of angles, heading, x, y, and z coordinates, and random ranges in StarLogo TNG. It corresponds to the coding challenges for StarLogo Nova (see related link). .

Battleship activity in StarLogo Nova

This activity uses the idea of the classic "battleship" game to review x and y coordinates in StarLogo Nova.  Students do a pen and paper simulation of the game, and then use a base model in StarLogo Nova to review the coordinates.

Penny Growth

Penny growth is a table-top hands-on activity in which students grow penny colonies based on simple rules. Through this activity and a corresponding computer model, students gain experience with modeling population growth, plotting data, and recognizing patterns. Different sized environments can be used to prompt a discussion of limits to growth fo the colonies.

Introduction to Computational Science

This video was produced by Project GUTS and Code.org to introduce computational science.

Prisoner's Dilemma (Tit for Tat)

A participatory simulation where partners examine strategies of cooperation versus individual gain. Based on the game theory activity of Prisoner's Dilemma, this activity introduces students to the contrast between theories of "Tragedy of the Commons" (individuals maximizing their own gain will result in collapse of the resources) and classic economic theory (maximum individual gain will lead to greatest efficiency).

Computational Thinking

This video introduces computational thinking. It was produced by Project GUTS with Code.org.

Dispositions and Classroom Culture

In this video, GUTS teachers talk about instilling dispositions and classroom culture that supports scientific inquiry and the development of computational thinking.

Archived Material: CS in Science Module 3 - Ecosystems as complex systems (for StarLogo Nova 1.0)

Archived Material: CS in Science Module 3 (for StarLogo Nova 1.0, Flash version updated 2015). 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.

Archived Material: CS in Science Module 4 Chemical Reactions for StarLogo Nova 1.0 (Flash version)

Archived Material: CS in Science Module 4: Chemical Reactions for StarLogo Nova 1.0 (Flash version, updated 2015). This Physical Science module explores chemical reactions: the conditions under which they occur, the evidence that a chemical reaction has taken place, limiting reactants versus reactants in excess, and when chemical reactions stop. The base model for this unit simulates the chemical reaction between silver nitrate and copper.

Battle of the Agents

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.

El Juego de la pesca (La Tragedia de los Comunes)

El Juego de la Pesca utiliza el concepto de Tragedia de los Comunes (Hardin, 1968) para trabajar sobre sustentabilidad. El jugador (pescador) tiene 10 días para atrapar tantos peces como pueda para alimentar a su familia. Cada día, el pescador puede elegir pescar uno, dos o tres peces, o no pescar ninguno. Hay otros dos pescadores que también tratan de capturar tantos peces como puedan. El lago en el que se pesca sólo puede soportar 20 peces (que es la capacidad de carga del lago).

Dengue outbreak simulation

This model simulates the transmission of the dengue virus in a neighborhood of four blocks during 180 (one hundred and eighty) days. The vector of the virus is the mosquito Aedes egyptii. The simulation shows a chart of the evolution of the outbreak (the change in the number of healthy people and infected people), another graph with the evolution of the mosquito population and some monitors that indicate the state of the mosquito population and how many people were infected.

Simulación de un brote de Dengue

Este modelo simula la transmisión del virus del dengue en un barrio de cuatro manzanas durante 180 días. El vector del virus es el mosquito Aedes egyptii. La simulación muestra un gráfico con la evolución del brote (el cambio en la cantidad de personas sanas y de personas infectadas), otro gráfico con la evolución de la población de mosquitos y unos monitores que indican el estado de la población de mosquitos y cuántas personas fueron infectadas.

Science of Friendship

Why do humans help some people and not others?  This Project GUTS unit explores this question and allows students to test their own assumptions. Using methods and data from anthropology, sociology and psychology and computer modeling in NetLogo, students investigate the role of cooperation in human interactions—and how cooperation plays a role in global issues such as resource management, health equity and climate change.