Cross-domain Learning about Complexity

Connected Chemistry

RoboGan

DataGan

Materials for thought

Water-flow construction

Cross-domain Learning about Complexity - CLC (2008-)

This project involves students' learning about complex systems within a variety of domains. The first modules engage with urban geography and with ecosystems.  I have developed two participatory simulations, in which students participate in a collaborative simulation using individual clients, The simulations were authored with HubNet (Wilensky & Stroup, 1999).

TrafficJams: Supports learning about the relation between local driving behaviors and traffic flow characteristics. Participants driver their own car on a two-lane road and explore how density of cars, minimal distance, cutting-in behaviors and slow-driving vehicles impact the flow of traffic. Programming: Snir Rotem & Avishai Linyevsky, as part of their CS undergraduate project at UHaifa (teacher: Hananel Hazan).

Ghost Town: Supports learning about the spatial structure of cities and their growth as a complex system. Students play building contractors and construct houses in a city. The city grows out of these houses: adding people, resource centers and roads. After running the simulation for several days, houses with people that do not survive turn into ghost houses. Main concept: Diffusion-limited aggregation. Programming: Aviad Itzkovich.

Dancing with Molecules: Supports students’ learning of global warming as a complex system of molecules and IR photons. Students play nitrogen and carbon-dioxide molecules, interact with photons and with other molecules.  Temperature is calculated for the whole system. Main concept: equilibrium and departure from equilibrium. Programming: Aviad Itzkovich; Saeed Awwad & Wissam Rafeoah, as part of their CS undergraduate project at UHaifa (teacher: Hananel Hazan).

Rebellion: A computerized participatory simulation to support students’ learning about civil unrest and the spatiotemporal structure of rebellion as a complex system. Students participate via computer clients in a collaborative simulation, playing citizens in a society in fluctuating levels of turmoil and decide whether or not to rebel. This participatory simulation is based on Joshua Epstein's model of civil violence (2002) and an existing NetLogo model.  Developed with: Lior Zlotnick and Shalomi Eldar, as part of their CS undergraduate project at UHaifa (teacher: Hananel Hazan).

Connected Chemistry (2002-2006). [ With Uri Wilensky & Michael Novak ]

As part of the Modeling Across the Curriculum project, at the Center for Connected Learning and Computer-based Modeling in Northwestern University, we have developed Connected Chemistry.  Connected Chemistry is a web-delivered, interactive model-based learning environment. It employs agent-based models, authored in the NetLogo language, to support highs-school students’ learning of Chemistry. The main focus is on the learning of chemistry content, together with concepts related to the process of modeling, and the emergence of macroscopic behaviors from sub-microscopic molecular interactions. Information about the students’ actions with the models and texts is transmitted, saved and analyzed for the purposes of research and teacher reports.  It is funded by an Interagency Education Research Initiative (IERI), a jointly supported project of the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Education and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 

Connected Chemistry: related papers

RoboGan (1997-). [ With David Mioduser & Vadim Talis ]

At the Knowledge Technology Lab in Tel-Aviv University, we have developed several versions of a robot-programming environment for young children, and for handicapped students. This environment supports the learning of concepts related to controlled systems and to the emergence of behaviors from the robot's interactions with its environment. RoboGan has evolved as a result of several research  projects, and now incorporates a learning progression shifting from episodes to scripts to rules.  Currently, we are testing a new version of the software in an experimental kindergarten.

RoboGan: related papers

DataGan for preschool children(TavlaYeda, 1997-99). [ With Vadim Talis ]

 At the Knowledge Technology Lab in Tel-Aviv University, we have developed a computerized environment prototype, which enables young children’s representation and manipulation of large amounts of data.  The activity is contextualized in children's inquiry projects, and is based on the children’s own questions, their qualitative direct perceptions of data, and their developing forms of representation.