"I'm Game!"
NetLogo simulation of a marbles game illustrating "Piagetian" and "Vygotskiian" learning.
Presented as a "dynamic figure" accompanying the paper...

Abrahamson, D., & Wilensky, U. (2005, June) Piaget? Vygotsky? I'm Game: Agent-Based Modeling for Psychology Research. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society. Vancouver, Canada.

How to Use This Simulation

• To run this simulation, press SETUP and then GO. To run the simulation again, first press RERUN.
• To slow down the simulation, go to the slider that is on the top-left-hand corner of the simulation area, grab the little blue handle, and drag it to the left.
• To run the simulation under a particular learning mode (Random/Piagetian/Vygotskiian/Piagetian-Vygotskiian), use the "strategy" choice button and select the strategy from its drop-down menu. Make sure the switch "random-strategy-on-setup?" is set to "Off."
• Use GO ONCE if you want to see just a single run.
• Set "limited-run?" to "Off" if you want the simulation to repeat over and over.
• Set the switch "random-strategy-on-setup?" to "On" in order to view multiple simulations under the different conditions. This is helpful for comparing between different experimental outcomes. Note that the target line changes color to reflect the condition you are running the simuluation under -- these are the same colors as in the graph and histogram.
• You can make the simulation run faster by pressing on the "On/Off" switch -- the little yellow knob -- that is just over the simulation area.
• Adjust the value of the "error" slider to set the level of "noise" in the players' perception and execution.
• Adjust the value of the "#-Vygotskiian-neighbors" slider to set the number of neighbors that players see under the Vygotskiian and Piagetian-Vygotskiian strategy.
• Adjust the value of the "ZPD" slider to set the maximum difference between a player's score and its selected neighbor's score that still allows the player to learn from that neighbor (applies under the Vygotskiian and Piagetian-Vygotskiian strategies).

For feedback, please contact feedback@ccl.northwestern.edu, and for further communication, please contact Dor Abrahamson at dor@berkeley.edu.