Backwards operation

Open the project and run the simulation in each of these three worlds. Use the arrow keys to move the frog toward the river. What do you observe? What is happening? Why? How did it get that way? Discussion: In ‘new world_1’, the up-arrow and down-arrow keys move the frog in the wrong direction. In addition, the frog seems to move under the road. In ‘new world_2’, all of the arrow keys seem to work backwards from what is expected; however, the frog move on top of the road, ground, and river. In ‘standard world’, the arrow keys work in the expected way, and the frog moves normally on other agents in the world. Note that it is the same frog agent in all three worlds. Therefore, the behavior is identical. That must mean there is something fundamentally different about the worlds, rather than a problem with the agent. The problems in the first two worlds are typical of new students, particularly those who are “button pushers” – experimenters – who sometimes start playing without reading instructions or listening to instructors. When they first create a world, they might start investigating the tools on the tool bar. Quickly they discover the camera positioning tools, which change the perspective from which the world is viewed. Later, when it is time to construct their world, they begin placing objects on the world, without first reloading the world to restore it to its original starting state. If they have rotated or flipped the world upside down, they will construct a world in which the movement directions are reversed. In the first world tested (“new world_1”), the world was flipped over from top to bottom before placing the river and frog agents. The consequence is that what appears as the “up” direction in the world view is actually down with respect to movement actions. In addition, the agents placed on the world are actually being viewed from below the plane of the world. Note that placing the agents still occurs vertically in the true upward direction (from a layer perspective). If you try to place a few agents in a cell, you will see that they seem to stack downward, rather than what would seem to be on top of each other. However, in initial world construction, such as is shown in the example, this might be missed. In the second world tested (“new world_2”), the world was rotated 180 degrees in the same plane. The consequence is that all four directions are reversed, but the agents are still stacked properly vertically. Unfortunately, there is no way to simply “flip” or rotate the world and have the agents move to the desired locations. Usually, resolution requires clearing the world and rebuilding it. As an aside, there is a good troubleshooting lesson in this example: make a new world and test only the agents that are involved in the problem being investigated. Summary: Beginning users sometimes play with the camera control tools before completing construction of a world and inadvertently flip or twist the world, then unwittingly create the world in a reverse perspective. A good practice is NOT to change the world perspective until sufficient agents have been placed so as to provide a natural proper perspective of up and down.
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Created:May 28, 2015
Played:128
Agent:11
Rules:29
Methods:14
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Open the project and run the simulation in each of these three worlds. Use the arrow keys to move the frog toward the river. What do you observe? What is happening? Why? How did it get that way? Discussion: In ‘new world_1’, the up-arrow and down-arrow keys move the frog in the wrong direction. In addition, the frog seems to move under the road. In ‘new world_2’, all of the arrow keys seem to work backwards from what is expected; however, the frog move on top of the road, ground, and river. In ‘standard world’, the arrow keys work in the expected way, and the frog moves normally on other agents in the world. Note that it is the same frog agent in all three worlds. Therefore, the behavior is identical. That must mean there is something fundamentally different about the worlds, rather than a problem with the agent. The problems in the first two worlds are typical of new students, particularly those who are “button pushers” – experimenters – who sometimes start playing without reading instructions or listening to instructors. When they first create a world, they might start investigating the tools on the tool bar. Quickly they discover the camera positioning tools, which change the perspective from which the world is viewed. Later, when it is time to construct their world, they begin placing objects on the world, without first reloading the world to restore it to its original starting state. If they have rotated or flipped the world upside down, they will construct a world in which the movement directions are reversed. In the first world tested (“new world_1”), the world was flipped over from top to bottom before placing the river and frog agents. The consequence is that what appears as the “up” direction in the world view is actually down with respect to movement actions. In addition, the agents placed on the world are actually being viewed from below the plane of the world. Note that placing the agents still occurs vertically in the true upward direction (from a layer perspective). If you try to place a few agents in a cell, you will see that they seem to stack downward, rather than what would seem to be on top of each other. However, in initial world construction, such as is shown in the example, this might be missed. In the second world tested (“new world_2”), the world was rotated 180 degrees in the same plane. The consequence is that all four directions are reversed, but the agents are still stacked properly vertically. Unfortunately, there is no way to simply “flip” or rotate the world and have the agents move to the desired locations. Usually, resolution requires clearing the world and rebuilding it. As an aside, there is a good troubleshooting lesson in this example: make a new world and test only the agents that are involved in the problem being investigated. Summary: Beginning users sometimes play with the camera control tools before completing construction of a world and inadvertently flip or twist the world, then unwittingly create the world in a reverse perspective. A good practice is NOT to change the world perspective until sufficient agents have been placed so as to provide a natural proper perspective of up and down.
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