Weeks 1-4 Skill Building- more Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) and TNG
Week 1
Discussion
Activity
CAS Activity
Programming
Activity
Investigation
Questions
Review Complex Adaptive System (CAS) concepts of Local, Individual and Global
27 Blind Mice- students will understand the effects of local information on global
patterns as well as differences between local and global communication. (see
handout)
As a group, do a CAST of the 27 Blind Mice activity.
Random Walks- Students will make a simple program that will show how differences in
the wiggle size (turning angle) can produce interesting patterns and could lead to
differences in a system.
What are some examples of local communication that you use or know of? What are
some examples of global communication that you use or know of? When would you
choose to use local vs. global communication?
15 minutes
45 minutes
15 minutes
45 minutes
10 minutes
Week 2
Review
Activity
Presentation
CAS Activity
Programming
Activity
Investigation
Questions
Review of concepts and activities from previous week
TryAngles- students try to form equilateral triangles after secretly choosing two other
‘vertices.’
Show TryAngle TNG model (if ready)
As a group, do a CAST of the TryAngles activity
Use of Agent Number Variables- Students will make a simple program that uses an
agent number variable such as ‘energy.’
At the Individual scale, what did you see in the TryAngles activity? During the
TryAngles activity, what did you see happening at the Local scale? During the
TryAngles activity, what happened at the Global scale?
5 minutes
45 minutes
5 minutes
15 minutes
45 minutes
10 minutes
Week 3
Review
Activity
CAS Activity
Programming
Activity
Investigation
Questions
Review of concepts and activities from previous week
Penny Growth- students will understand non-linearity and finite resources
As a group, do a CAST of the Penny Growth activity
Chase & Runaway- Students will make a simple program that has an agent that
‘chases’ and another agent that ‘runs away’ using lists, smell and shared number
variables
What was the growth curve like in Pennies Growth? Does it remind you of anything
you have seen in real-life? What were the variables that you changed? (hint: # of
pennies, location of pennies, size of area) What limited the growth in Penny Growth?
5 minutes
30 minutes
15 minutes
1 hour
Review of concepts and activities from previous week
Complex or Complicated?- powerpoint showing different examples that will prompt
a discussion about complex adaptive systems. Questions to ask: what’s happening at
a local level? Does it have emergent patterns? Is it leaderless?
Math and Computer Modeling- slope, absolute value- Students will create a model
of a mountain water spring. The movement of the water will use the concepts of
slope and absolute value.
Give an example of a complex adaptive system. Explain what makes it is a complex
adaptive system.
5 minutes
30 minutes
10 minutes
Week 4
Review
CAS Activity
Programming
Activity
Investigation
Questions
50 minutes
10 minutes