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Re: [SL] In search of a StarLogo methodology
>This problem is releated to one I've seen repeatedly with my colleagues
>in the modeling community - to what extent is observable model behavior
>attributable to the phenomemon under study, and to what extent is it an
>artifact of the implementation?
Ok, as long as Larry brought this up, I thought I'd add my $.02 worth on
this more general modeling issue.
Some of the issues raised here boil down to the fact that StarLogo itself
is a model, and making appropriate use of that model depends on one's
understanding of the underlying assumptions of that model. Since SL is
also a programming language, I think some of those assumptions are often
overlooked, especially by beginning modelers.
This also relates to something I see in people working with StarLogo, and
other modeling environments. Sometimes someone will come in with a
preconceived notion of how a model should behave. He or she will then go
about trying to make the model behave in a way that "looked right," without
necessarily using a logical underlying model. Other people will start
using a sound model, but after it doesn't look right they will add in
unfounded behaviors to make it look right. Both of these processes can
produce sensible looking behaviors on screen, but as learning tools their
value is questionable. Such methods are also at odds with a scientific
process, in that they work backwards from some expected result, instead of
forward from first principles.
I think, as an educational tool, that the constraints of the modeling
environment can ultimately be used in one's favor as a springboard into
examining the assumptions built into both the modeling environment and the
model that is being implemented.
Eric Klopfer
UMass Amherst, School of Ed
StarLogo
http://www.media.mit.edu/starlogo
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