SBIR Phase I: Agent-based Simulation and Modeling Over the World Wide Web

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Thinking of a computer as an educational tool emphasizes solitary interaction between the learner and the computer. Reconceptualizing the computer, however, as a constructionist medium--that is, a collection of tools and capabilities that are used to communicate--increases it potential educational value by allowing the development and support of communities of learners. Agentsheets is an agent-based graphical spreadsheet environment that lets a wide range of users create SiMCity(TM) like interactive simulations, domain-oriented visual programming environments, games and cellular automata. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project from Agentsheets, Inc. plans to use classroom-tested Agentsheets technology to create and share interactive simulations and virtual worlds that combine student creations, real-world hardware, and World Wide Web resources, thus addressing the need for enhanced student learning through virtual experimentation and user-driven visualization. The central Phase I objective is to demonstrate feasibility by developing an Agentsheets-based environment (the Web Behavior Exchange) that lets K-1 2 students not only construct, but also share and link educational software components over the Web. Phase I includes the implementation of a prototype Exchange automated server. The end result should be a significant resource--a Web Behavior Exchange featuring a changing set of compelling student creations. The project proffers a reconceptualization leading to a new class of computer applications that place constructionist activities, such as creating a simulation, within a more social context in which computers simultaneously provide opportunities for learning how to communicate as well as for enabling communication to enhance the learning experience. Commercial applications include not only simulations and modeling for education and research, but also for games, programming tools, and virtual reality applications in architecture, medicine, and data analysis.