1.) I missed the concept on this with the 6 color coded sections throwing me off. The six shapes had walls that would not allow the black or pink squares to pass through. So I was thinking of molecules interacting with one another without the ability to pass barriers.
2.)
3.) A magenta turtle represents an infected organism that has a set time before being deleted.
I didn’t see the terrain color matching the territory color that often, but occasionally objects would head in the opposite direction when this occurred, expressed mathematically by -180 degrees.
4.) Well, even thought got this wrong, it was nice to have to struggle through the possibilities. You really have to look at each component part and go through a series of diagnostic questions.
So I would use a similar approach of having students record observations and then make interpretations.
The magenta turtle are infected. When the magenta turtle collide with the black turtle (i.e. not infected) they turn magenta (i.e. infected). The infection time is extremely quick, it is the infection time - 1. If the infection time is less than 0 it will be deleted.
This section of code prevents turtles from leaving their area. When the turtles come in contact with the edge of its terrain, it makes a 180 degree turn and continues.
Mystery models are a great way for students to work together and share ideas. It allows them to make observations and develop problem-solving skills.
I am so impressed with everyone’s amazing observations and inferences–as well as the great ideas you all have for using Mystery Models in your classrooms! I hope I have answered everyone’s questions either privately or via the forum–please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any further questions! Keep up the wonderful work you all are doing with CS in Science and project GUTS!
This section of code indicates that the magenta turtles are infected. If the magenta turtles collide with the uninfected black turtles, then the black turtles will become infected and turn magenta.
The Mystery Model supports the use of higher level thinking( analysis) and problem solving.
When forever is hit the turtles move and are infected when time reaches 0 the agents die (deleted) the agents do not move forward but do not move past their territory color. In my classroom, students could relate the transmission of disease with a real-world epidemic that has occurred to view as a short time lapse to make observations of what is occurring almost like real time.
I put a screen shot of the mystery model code chunk in Model Observation form.
This code block models infection of turtles. When a turtle collides with another Turtle, if the collidee is magenta (infected), in a percent of cases (based on the slider value), change the color of the first turtle to magenta to indicate this turtle is now infected.
Decoding is a critical 21st century skill. I call it coding literacy, and we practice it with all coding projects. I start students will simple code and work our way up to more complex algorithms. I can use the mystery model when students study epidemics in Science or Social Studies classes. Students are generally engaged in these lessons, especially when they study current like epidemics like Zika, or historical epidemics like the Bubonic Plague.[This code block models infection of turtles. When a turtle collides with another Turtle, if the collidee is magenta (infected), in a percent of cases (based on the slider value), change the color of the first turtle to magenta to indicate this turtle is now infected.](http://This code block models infection of turtles. When a turtle collides with another Turtle, if the collidee is magenta (infected), in a percent of cases (based on the slider value), change the color of the first turtle to magenta to indicate this turtle is now infected.)indent preformatted text by 4 spaces
This section is saying that when the turtles collide, if the turtle is another color, it becomes magenta.
Using Mystery Models and decoding are a great way to encourage critical thinking and problem solving. You can certainly use a Mystery Model to introduce a topic where students can show any prior knowledge they have.
This section is saying that when the turtles collide, if the turtle is another color, it becomes magenta.
In my biology class, we will be using this model to study the predator/prey dynamic in an environment. Student will be able to predict and infer information for this data.
Procedure Terrain. Interesting how it creates different colored terrain by creating a turtle, placing it in a specific spot on the screen and setting direction of movement and then moving it one space at a time and coloring one suare at a time.
I like the idea of having students look at the final product first and try to reason backwards to figure out how it was put together. Students will need a lot of scaffolding in the beginning, i.e. keep it simple and have them decipher code before creating their own.
