Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
students gain computational and modeling expertise as well as the ability to work
within a team to break down a large, unfamiliar problem into smaller, achievable
steps. The ABM framework can provide an excellent exercise in teamwork as well
as independent creation that ends with the satisfaction of a visually and intuitively
appealing product.
A certain benefit of the ABM development experience to the student is the experi-
ence of using unfamiliar software packages. Once outside of academia, students will
be required to explore and take advantage of software available to them. Instructors
may choose an additional challenge of asking students to evaluate and choose between
a number of available platforms, such as Swarm, RePast, NetLogo, AgentSheet, and
Ascape. Each of these tools have various strengths andweaknesses, including the built-
in operations and libraries for the ABM, coding requirements, GUIs, and observer
flexibility. Worku, an undergraduate who developed the axon ABM, actually first
evaluated all choices listed above, and then chose to use NetLogo for the following
reasons: “I have chosen to use NetLogo since it is the most user friendly and does
not need developers to have a significant background in coding. However, NetLogo
enables the coder to code complex environments and gives the observer flexibility
to change these environments.” A student with different skills may have chosen a
different tool; the process of evaluating the software is a valuable experience for
students.
Another great aspect of using ABM development as a teaching tool is the ease
of model refinement and expansion as it is essential for students to learn how to
assess and analyze their model, assumptions, limitations, and the future direction of
their work. In the case of her thesis, Worku identified several limitations. Her model
assumes the number of receptors on each axon is the same and that they are evenly
distributed. However, it has been documented that the number of receptors found
on each growth cone, and their distribution, alters the efficacy of the growth cone
response to the guidance cues [
66
]. She also assumed that all growth cones have the
same shape and size, which remains constant. However, it has been documented that
growth cones can change their size while they are moving through the environment
[
67
]. Finally, it is assumed that the growth cone itself does not produce any guidance
cue. Another theory states that the growth cone can produce chemoattractant which
leads to grouping of axons, which is then undone as axons approach the midline
[
68
]. These are examples that Worku identified as limitations in her model showing
that ABMs are complex enough to stretch a student's technical abilities, but tractable
enough for them to understand its limitations.
Another part of the appeal of ABM in education is its local-level viewpoint that
encourages gathering and integration of data that is both technical and social in nature
[
69
]. As observed in Section
4.3
, for example, a disease model may incorporate
relatively technical information about spatial configurations, population densities,
causes, and likelihood of disease transmission, waning rates, etc., but the model may
also encourage intuitive explorations, such as how individual human behavior might
affect disease spread.
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