Modeling Emergence

Hands on activity and lots of team work -- you'll find this and more in this exploration.  Build on your understanding of emergent behavior and complex systems by learning and applying a new modeling framework.

Pre-requisite Explorations

Before you begin, we recommend that you complete the Emergence exploration.

In the Emergence Exploration, you looked at concepts of emergence and complex systems through use of cellular automation.  Agent Based Modeling (ABM) is another tool that scientists and engineers use to study the behavior of complex interactions that involve an agent, an environment, external objects and a creator.  Like the cellular automations you looked at earlier, the behavior of ABM agents is described by simple rules, which are allowed to play out in an environment that can change in response to the behavior of the agents.  The trick is in determining which rules characterize agent behavior.  ABMs are powerful because of their ability to study possible outcomes to choices made in a wide variety of situations, such as models of the stock market and the outbreak of revolutions.  ABMs are expected to become increasingly important as policy tools.

In this exploration, you're going to learn an agent-based modeling program, work with an existing model, and create one of your own! The program you'll be working with is called StarLogo TNG and was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Massachusetts. Let's start with some examples that illustrate how this model has been used to describe different complex systems. StarLogo TNG Examples of Complex Systems Models. Pretty cool stuff, don't you think?

The ultimate goal of this challenge is to collaborate with your teammates to create a complex systems model using StarLogo TNG.  Complete the following three activities to get there.

Activity 1:  How Does It Work?

Activity 2:  What Can I Do With It?

Activity 3:  Make Your Own!

If You Need Help

If you have specific questions about this exploration, please contact your Mentor. If you still have questions, please email Help with Explorations.