EAGER: A Low-Cost Integrated Agent-based Modeling and Physical Computing Platform

21世纪的劳动力需要具备高水平的技术素养，包括从计算机使用到软件和硬件开发的各种技能。这些技能的发展存在许多障碍，包括计算平台的高成本和不可访问性，相对缺乏学习计算的课程，以及学习者在将这些技能用于劳动力之前以非正式方式应用这些技能的机会。特别是，当软件开发的成本下降，软件开发的课程开始出现时，很少有以学习者为中心的环境允许人们探索技术软件和硬件之间的联系。这个项目修改了一个现有的、经过验证的、对学习者友好的软件环境，叫做NetLogo，它可以在25美元的廉价电脑上运行，而不是昂贵的台式电脑。此外，该项目还将开发和测试课程，通过构建连接这些计算机的电路，让年轻人了解硬件和软件之间的联系。由于这些廉价计算机的低成本和日益普及，该项目可能有助于增加了解硬件和软件之间联系的机会。这个项目的智力价值在于这种新颖的硬件/软件环境的技术发展，研究是否以及如何使用基于代理的建模平台来支持学习者的计算思维，以及记录单板计算平台在硬件和软件交叉的计算机科学和工程原理教学中的功能。除了将NetLogo编程语言移植到Raspberry Pi单板计算机的Raspbian操作系统之外，该项目还将开发课程（涵盖基本编程、电路和基于代理的建模），并对未来如何开发教授这些概念的课程进行研究。30小时的课程将由专家审核，并通过两轮实验室设计试验和一次年轻学习者的现场试验进行试点测试。这些结果有望为学习科学领域和人机交互研究领域提供信息；并通过课程的传播和软件与树莓派低成本电脑的捆绑来产生更广泛的影响。

The 21st century workforce needs to have high levels of technological literacy, including skills ranging from computer use to software and hardware development. There are many barriers to the development of such skills including the high cost and inaccessibility of computing platforms, the relative lack of curriculum to learn computing, and the opportunity for learners to apply these skills in informal ways before using them in the workforce. In particular, while the cost of software development is decreasing, and curriculum for software development are beginning to emerge, there are extremely few learner-centric environments that allow people to explore the connection between technology software and hardware. This project modifies an existing, proven, learner-friendly software environment called NetLogo to run on cheap $25 computers instead of expensive desktop computers. In addition, the project will develop and test curriculum for youth to learn about the connections between hardware and software by building circuits that connect to these computers. The project will likely help increase opportunities to learn about the connection between hardware and software, due to the low cost and increasing popularity of these inexpensive computers. The intellectual merit of this project rests in the technical development of this novel hardware/software environment, in studying whether and how agent-based modelling platforms can be used to support learners in computational thinking, and in documenting the affordances of the single-board computing platform for teaching computer science and engineering principles at the intersection between hardware and software. In addition to porting the NetLogo programming language to the Raspbian operating system for the Raspberry Pi single board computer, the project will develop curricula (covering basic programming, circuits, and agent-based modelling), and conduct research on how curricula to teach these concepts should be developed in the future. The thirty hour curriculum will be reviewed by experts, and pilot tested through two rounds of design trials in the lab and one field trial with young learners. These results are expected to inform both the field of learning sciences and the field of human-computer interaction research; and have broader impact through the dissemination of the curricula and bundling of the software with the Raspberry Pi low cost computers.