Thinking in levels - Uses in Education

Thinking in levels - Uses in Education
Date:22nd March 2020/Sunday

This blog post discusses a new topic about thinking in levels and why it is necessary to think in levels. I found about levels in the paper "Thinking in level: a dynamic systems approach to making sense of the world" by Wilensky , u , & Resnick (1999). The first part of the blog talks about levels in depth, the second part takes you through sample project involving levels and the last part explains why thinking in levels is necessary.

Lets begin by exploring what do we mean by levels. The better understanding of the levels would lead to better understanding of the how different phenomenon occur in the world and how different patterns emerge. By levels here the writer means the description we use to categorize a system where there may be many interacting agents. The issue was noticed when two students working on a simulation found that when the cars move forward in a traffic, the traffic jam seems to flow backward. Both were confused as what was happening on the screen.  The traffic flow should be according to the movement of the cars. But this does not happen because in a traffic, some cars leave the jam and move forward, while others join in, so the flow does not remain constant.  This is similar to the waves we see when we move the rope up and down, the rope moves up and down, but the wave moves along the length of the rope. So, there are three different kinds of levels, these are hierarchical levels, emergent levels and task levels. 

So, when we talk of hierarchical control, we mean where commands flow from top to bottom, from higher to lower levels, most traditional organizations have this hierarchical system in place where as modern organizations are trying to move away from this hierarchy and adopt a more flexible system. The approach explained above is called the organization chart view. The second form of levels is the container view, for example a month has weeks, weeks have days, days have hours, each inside the other. Its the idea about parts and wholes, lower levels are contained in higher levels and not the vice versa. For example a day has 25 hours, every hour has 60 mins and every minute contains 60 seconds. The third view or form of the levels is what we call the emergent levels, which emerges because of the interaction among objects at lower levels. As was the case of traffic jam, the traffic jam seems to move backward because of the interaction among the car agents. Similarly, when in a stadium people stand up and down, the wave moves around the stadium. Its interesting that the interactions at one level cause a different action at another level. Hofstadter (1979) compares the mind to an ant colony, just as the behavior of the colony arises because of the interaction of the ants, in the same way , mind arises from the interaction of the cognitive ants.

The author had used the Star Logo program to further explore the concept of levels. Star Logo is an extension of the computer programming language Logo developed by Seymour Pappert somewhere in the 1980s. Instead of  one turtle there are now hundreds or thousands of turtles, user can give them commands and see how they react or behave. These turtles can be treated as either car agents, molecules in a gas etc. Students can also program the environment in which these agents move. The environment in Star Logo is made up of a grid and is called patches. A patch can keep information of how much oil was spilled on the road and so on. Lets begin by understanding an example of a slime. We know that slime is a creature and it exist independently as far as the food if enough in the form of tiny amoebas, but as soon as the food shortage or scarcity arises its behavior changes drastically. They feed on bacteria found in the environment, and reproduce by simply dividing into two. When the food is short, these creatures move towards each other, and tend to form a giant creature and they stop reproducing. They start looking for a more favorable environment. And when it finds a favorable environment it transforms into a stalk supporting a mass of spores. These spores detach ultimately and form a new environment. 

In order to understand this process further, a program was written in star logo to simulate the slime behavior. The program was simple , the turtle was controlled by four rules, the first makes the turtle move, the second adds randomness to the turtle, the third makes the turtle emit and leave behind a pheromone trail of green color, and the fourth makes the turtle sniff pheromone and move in the direction where the pheromone is the strongest.   The patch or the environment is controlled by two rules, one to make the pheromone evaporate and the second to diffuse the pheromone in the neighboring areas. If the simulation is done with a fewer turtles nothing much happens but when it is done with a large number of turtles, the scenario changes. In the first case we see small green trails by turtles , and the pheromone trail evaporates sooner. The turtles wander on the screen. With more turtles they move together, more pheromone is dropped and a large puddle is visible. The more pheromone in the puddle, the more turtles join and the puddle continues to grow. The only concern is that in this case, only few turtles remain wandering alone. For the process to continue it requires an endless supply of turtles which might not be possible. Turtles have a randomness in them, they d not stay attached to one cluster , they escape from the cluster, its a ripple effect. When a few turtles escape the cluster nothing happens but when many move away the cluster breaks. The whole process led to a deeper understanding of the levels and how individual interaction between turtles changes and effects the environment.

The paper reflects the importance of understanding not only levels but how computers could be effectively used to understand the concept of levels. Often schools use computers at very basic levels from exploring the concepts online to making presentations using different tools etc. The use of computers is mostly at the lower levels of blooms taxonomy and SMAR model. Its used for recall and remember purposes, and simply substituting the traditional work using technology. The article explains an in depth use of computers to understand the concept of levels through simulations in Star Logo. While exploring a few projects online , I found some interesting examples. For example there is a fire unit which explains when the use of fire is good and bad, and how humans can play a role in preventing fires. Students use Star Logo simulation to see the affects of wild fires, student do experiments, make observations, gather and interpret data. They use the data to make informed decisions. The whole experiment is based on a middle school science curriculum. For example in the beginning experiment students work with tree density and wind variable and see how they effect the fires. In the second phase they program a fire fighter, who cuts the fires. Students then cut and begin the fire process and find an ideal firebreak width. Once  this is done they design a new forest, by planting new trees, to decrease devastation caused by random fires. Students further experiment with sick trees that could cause fire, further they introduce an animal in the forest amidst fire and try to save it. They design a game with varying difficulty levels.

Similarly, while skimming through another project on Star Logo Nova, it was used for the middle school, Science curriculum to study the effect and impact of epidemics. To understand the nature of the epidemics, as well as the cost benefit analysis of interventions and prevention. Students could study these simulations as well as design their own simulations. So, students begin with exploring the simulations and list what defines an epidemic. In the next phase they introduce doctor agents and see how they effect the spread of the epidemic. In another phase, students work with different interventions (resources are limited in real world and they affect the working of the systems massively). Students can then develop a game to apply their knowledge of epidemics. This could be useful in the Corona Virus situation the world is facing these days, simulations in Star Log could provide insight to the number of people that might be affected with this disease in future. Interventions in the simulation could be introduced like taking precautions, staying home, washing hands, social distancing, providing medication and vice versa and the impact could be gauged. These different variables could be mapped separately. Using this data new strategies could be developed to cope with this crisis.

To sum up, in order to understand a phenomenon , its different levels need to be understood in depth, without this in depth understanding we cannot create new and innovative solutions to problems that the world faces today. Its easy to watch a video or simulation on photosynthesis or water cycle, but without understanding what happens at each level of the process, how individual agents interact, students cannot fully grasp the importance of these phenomenon. They may be able to explain the process but will not be able to link it with other phenomenon, or introduce something new in the existing phenomenon. These simulations could be used to understand natural phenomenon like volcanoes, earthquakes and may be floods, the damage they cost, helpful in coming up with coping strategies. Students could then design their interventions to stop more damage, which they could not do in a traditional classroom with limited resources.

Hope you enjoyed reading :) Signing off till my next blog post soon InShaaAllah.

Regards and prayers
Sheeba Ajmal

References

1.  Wilensky, U., & Resnick, M. (1999). Thinking in levels: A dynamic systems approach to making sense of the world. Journal of Science Education and technology, 8(1), 3-19.
2. Hofstadter, D.(1979). Godel, Escher, Bach:An eternal golden braid. New York:Basic Books.
3.  Star Logo Nova , Accessed online https://www.slnova.org/
4. Forest Fire Unit, Accessed online http://web.mit.edu/mitstep/starlogo-tng/learn/forest-fire-unit.html
5. Epidemics Unit , Accessed online http://web.mit.edu/mitstep/starlogo-tng/learn/epidemics-unit.html