Upward Bound Computer Class Summer 2010

= Upward Bound Summer 2010 – Computer Class =

(Revised: 6/19/2010)

Instructor: Fred Gluck Contact Information: 303-443-3782                                fggluck17@yahoo.com

Course Overview
This course introduces concepts in computational thinking, system simulation, and computer programming via the vehicle of video game design. By designing video games resembling classic arcade games (e.g., Frogger, Space Invaders, Sokoban, Pac Man, etc.), students will learn the same skills and techniques used in modeling scientific and social systems. Students will use the AgentSheets (tm) simulation application initially to create video games, and then transition to a final project, creating a simulation to model a real-life system, such as an ecosystem, geological system, contagious disease, etc.

Three components to the grade (400 points total):

 * Frogger game – demonstrating basic techniques in simulation design (agent design, cursor control, object generation and absorption, collision, transport, probability-controlled events): 100 points.


 * Ecosystem simulation – demonstrating artificial intelligence techniques (collaborative diffusion, hill climbing): 100 points.


 * Student chosen Science/Technology/Engineering/Math (STEM) simulation – use of learned techniques to model a scientific or social process: 200 points.

Grade scale:

A: &gt; 360 points (&gt; 90%) B: 320 - 359 points (80% - 89%) C: 280 - 319 points (70% - 79%)

Class Schedule
The following outlines the estimated time for the construction of each project. Individual times for students may vary, depending on the extent to which they spend effort on the optional aspects of each project:


 * Sessions 1 and 2: Frogger design and upload.
 * Sessions 3 and 4: Ecosystem design and upload.
 * Sessions 5 through 8: Student chosen STEM simulation design and upload.

Frogger game:
Basic Requirements: 100 points  • Cursor controlled frog • Trucks/cars moving on road continuously (e.g., left to right), hint: use Generate and Absorb pattern (e.g., tunnel producing trucks) • Frogs will die when hit by truck. They turn into a dead frog depiction that will disappear after a short while • River with floating logs and turtles floating in opposite directions. • Frog cannot swim and dies when on top water. • logs and turtles Transport frog. • When frog arrives on Grotto is game is won. • Project uploaded to arcade with description.

Extra Requirements (up to 50 points) • multiple frog lives (hint: use generator agent, e.g., leave, and broadcast message) • variable length logs: beginning piece + random middle piece + end piece (hint: Choreography pattern) • multiple frogger levels (hint: use switch to worksheet action) • nice, original artwork • other ideas: describe

Ecosystem Simulation
Basic Requirements (100 points)  • At least two active agent elements (e.g., shark, smaller fish, algae; coyote, rabbit, plants). • Need-driven movement (hunger, fear) using diffusion and hill-climbing. • Natural (timed) “death” of at least one agent. • Need-based “death” of at least one agent (e.g., starvation). • Re-generation of at least one agent (e.g., plants re-seed, animals reproduce offspring). • Simulation-property control of at least one rate (e.g., plant regeneration rate, natural lifetime of agent, hunger threshold). • Project uploaded to arcade with description.

Extra Requirements (up to 50 points)  • Additional active agents in the simulation hierarchy (e.g., additional predators or prey). • Additional levels of hierarchy (e.g., hunger, exploration). • Background matching simulation topic, with additional agents to provide realistic boundaries (e.g., mountain scene with rock agents to shape the boundaries for active agents in the simulation).

Final Project – Science or social system simulation
Basic Requirements (200 points) 


 * Written (word processor) description of the simulation, including:
 * General environment; e.g., ecosystem, atmospheric model, geologic model, historical event model, etc.
 * Active elements in the system, for example:
 * Predator and prey agents.
 * Geographical elements of a natural phenomenon simulation, such as land, water, mountains, etc.
 * Factions in an historical event simulation.&lt;
 * Well, infected, contagious people in a contagion model.
 * Cardiovascular system components (heart, lungs, muscles, circulatory system) in a physiology model.
 * Ants, food, home in a foraging model.
 * Basic influences in the model, for example:
 * Hunger, fear, exploration in a predator/prey model.
 * Heat, insulation, conductive forces in a thermal model.
 * Social needs, desires, pressures in a social model.
 * Gravitational and frictional forces in a physical system model.
 * Virulence and contagiousness of disease, immunization, etc., in a disease model.
 * Mechanisms of control, for example:
 * Probabilistic vs. user (e.g., cursor) control of agent movement.
 * Agent interactions.
 * Simulation properties and agent attributes.
 * Thresholds.
 * At least three different active agents.
 * At least one element of diffusion and/or hill-climbing (seeking).
 * At least one numerical measure of the overall state of the system with plotting.
 * Project uploaded to arcade with description.

 Extra Requirements (up to 50 points) 


 * Additional active agents.
 * Additional diffusion/hill-climbing processes.
 * Additional system parameters (simulation properties) to control and/or measure outcomes.