To be Presented at the ICLS 2000
A Hands-on Modeling Approach to Evolution:
Learning about the Evolution of Cooperation and Altruism
Through Multi-Agent Modeling - The EACH Project
Abstract: This paper presents a hands-on approach to learning about
evolution;
specifically, the evolution of altruistic and cooperative behavior.
The classical view of individual selection stresses the importance of
competition between individuals for resources and survival. On this view,
altruistic and cooperative behavior appear to be disadvantageous for evolutionary
success.
However, looking at evolution as a complex system, altruism and cooperation can
be seen as
valuable traits for individual survival. The EACH project developed hands-on
materials that enabled
students to engage and test their intuitions about the fitness and evolutionary
success of altruistic behavior.
The primary materials consisted of a set of multi-agent models (written in
StarLogoT) and associated activities
that guided students in exploring evolutionary scenarios. Through their
involvement in the EACH project, many
students who had started with an understanding of evolutionary fitness as a trait
of isolated individuals came
to appreciate the complexity of environmental and social factors in the
evolutionary process.
Link to Paper
Presented at the ICCS 2000
Survival of the Groupiest: Facilitating Studentsą Understanding of
the Multiple Levels of Fitness through Multi-Agent Modeling The EACH Project
Abstract: This paper presents a hands-on approach to learning about
complexity in evolution. Students are traditionally taught to think about
evolution, and specifically fitness, in terms of the competition among
same-species individuals for reproductive success. However, this understanding
of fitness can promote misleading intuitions about how the evolutionary process
works. An approach to teaching evolution that focuses solely on individual
factors limits studentsą abilities to understand the complex ways in which
environmental and social factors bear on the evolutionary success of individuals.
In particular, the classical view of natural selection, as captured in the
phrase "survival of the fittest", can obfuscate the possibility for understanding
how altruistic and cooperative behavior can be advantageous for evolutionary
success. In more recent work looking at evolution from a complex systems
perspective, individual fitness can be seen as a multi-level phenomenon. By
considering the interaction between individual, group, and environmental factors
as constitutive of individual fitness, altruism and cooperation can be seen as
valuable traits for individual survival.
As part of the EACH project, we developed hands-on materials that are enabling
students to engage and test their intuitions about the fitness and evolutionary
success of altruistic behavior. The primary materials consist of a set of
multi-agent models (written in StarLogoT) and associated activities that guide
students in exploring the complexity of evolutionary scenarios. In one set of
models, students explored the effects of environmental conditions, such as
harshness and disease, on the formation of groups, and the success of altruistic
behavior. In another set of models, co-developed by project researchers and a
student learner, students explored the effects of population viscosity on the
well being of cooperative populations. By experimenting with different levels of
interaction between group formation, environmental conditions, and individual
behaviors, students developed increasingly sophisticated conceptualizations of
"fitness", and were able to extend project models and create new models for
exploring complex evolutionary scenarios. Many students who had started with an
understanding of evolutionary fitness as a trait of isolated individuals came to
appreciate the complexity of environmental and social factors in the evolutionary
process.
Link to Paper
