Mechanistic Explanations of Evolutionary Change Facilitated by Agent-Based Models

• In Event: Roundtable Session 129
  In Roundtable Session: Understandings of Evolution––And Other Contentious Topics

Abstract

Evolutionary processes have been found to be cognitively challenging for students to understand. Commonly used representations of evolutionary change do not provide a window into the underlying mechanisms of evolutionary change. Agent-based models are a felicitous environment to facilitate learning about mechanisms underlying a changing system. The goal of this paper is to examine how agent-based models support student discussions about how population-level change is triggered by underlying individual-level mechanisms. Our ongoing analysis of the data indicates that agent-based models do support student discussions about how agent-level mechanisms facilitate population-level change. However, when using agent-based models, some mechanisms are more salient to students than others.

Authors

• Aditi Wagh, Northwestern University

• Uri J. Wilensky, Northwestern University