Spinners, Dice, and Pawns: Using Board Games to Prepare Learners for Agent-Based Modeling Activities

• In Event: Fiddling on the Fly: Thinking, Learning, and Designing Using Board Games

Abstract

Computational models and simulations and can be powerful pedagogical tools to help learners understand (National Research Council, 2011). However, in order to construct understandings of target phenomena—especially phenomena that emerge from the complex interactions of lower-level entities—it is important for learners to understand a model’s simplifying assumptions, including the rules that govern the behavior of individual computational agents (Jacobson & Wilensky, 2006; Norman, 1983; Son & Goldstone, 2009; Wilensky & Reisman, 2006; Wilensky & Resnick, 1999). For example, in population dynamics models (e.g. Wilenksy & Reisman, 2006; Wilensky & Resnick, 1999) learners ideally understand that the model represents a simplified ecosystem with two or three types of organisms, that these organisms reproduce asexually based on some fixed probability, that encounters between predators and prey are determined by chance discrete movements on a two-dimensional plane, and that simulations advance in fixed step-by-step time intervals (ticks).

In this paper we consider the use of board games as a way of preparing elementary school students to explore computational agent-based model (ABMs). We have designed these board games to closely resemble their computational counterparts in certain key respects. For example, for a wolf-sheep predation model, we designed a game with tokens representing wolves and sheep that children move on a grid based on the roll of dice, the draw of a card, or the flick of a spinner (rather than a pseudo-random number generator). Children could conceivably modify “parameters” of theses board games by doing things like swapping spinners, using different numbers of tokens, or by omitting or changing the rules of play.

These games aren’t necessarily meant for playing more than a few times—their fun is quickly replaced by the tedium of moving many pieces and keeping track of things like energy levels on a score sheet. But then, that’s part of our goal; one of our principle learning objectives is to help children appreciate why computers are useful tools for scientific modeling; they can make thousands upon thousands of precise computations in the blink of an eye and keep track of vast arrays of data. Other goals include introducing learners to the agents in the system and the rules that govern their behavior, foregrounding the role of randomness, and reinforcing the tick-based representation of time (through turn taking). We also hope that board game play helps to reinforce social scripts that will be valuable in a collaborative inquiry environment (e.g. sharing, turn taking, and coordinated objectives).

In this paper we will discuss both our learning objectives and game designs in more detail. We will also present data from a pilot study with seven elementary school children who played our games and interacted with computational agent-based models as part of a summer workshop. Lastly, we will analyze and discuss the role of board game play on children’s interaction with computational models.

Authors

• Michael S. Horn, Northwestern University

• Izabel Duarte Olson, Northwestern University