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[SwarmFest2004] abstract
From: |
Morses4 |
Subject: |
[SwarmFest2004] abstract |
Date: |
Thu, 25 Mar 2004 06:55:59 EST |
I developed a StarLogo project with crayfish data from my work in northern
Minnesota that I acquired while attending graduate school at the University of
Minnesota in fisheries. I started working on it while attending a Starlogo
workshop for teachers at the Santa Fe Institute, and I find it useful in my
current job teaching biology to inner city students in Camden, NJ. The
abstract
follows:
Teaching how organisms interact with habitat is different from researching
the problem. Research often paints a complex picture. Multivariate statistics
are commonly used to describe the influence of several habitat variables on
distribution. At the high school level, textbooks often paint a simpler,
sometimes oversimplified, picture. I attempted a third approach by developing
a
Starlogo model. It uses actual field data on crayfish distribution and several
microhabitat variables to illustrate habitat use in an intuitive, visual, and
accessible manner. The model uses a population of artificial crayfish,
reacting to habitat variables in parallel, as instructed by the student. The
goal is
to develop habitat selection criteria for these artificial crayfish that will
place them in habitat on the computer screen corresponding to real habitat
used by real crayfish at the study site. Students determine whether individual
variables affect young-of-the-year crayfish numbers at the study site
positively or negatively. Then they estimate the degree of crayfish response
to each
variable, and combine the variables to produce their best multivariate model.
- [SwarmFest2004] abstract,
Morses4 <=