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modeling 2006
Shodor > SUCCEED > Workshops > Archive > modeling 2006

The kids began the afternoon by being introduced to a new application similar to the one they had learned yesterday called NetLogo. They learned how to create turtles, the agents of the models made in NetLogo, and how to modify certain properties about them - color, shape, size, and behavior. They then experimented with moving the turtles around screen and getting a foothold in the language NetLogo understands.

The students then had a look at the more advanced models available pre-made in NetLogo, and learned about graphical sliders and buttons that change attributes of the model. They also learned that graphs and charts can be shown to the user to provide information about the model as it runs. The students learned about a model that shows a disease passing through people.

The students then set at work modifying another prebuilt model, this one showing fireworks flying up and exploding. The kids changed parameters of the model both through the sliders and buttons provided by the model's maker and by changing some of the code behind the model. Students were then given freedom to make their own models or play with the pre-made models.