An Introductory Course in the Computational Modeling of Nature

Abstract

Abstract This introductory course in computational modeling of nature contains the development of three kinds of models of phenomena in nature -- agent-based models and simple finite difference models using the environment of the NetLogo language and complex finite difference models using the language of C + +. No prior programming experience is assumed. The natural phenomena modeled include some standard ones (e.g. ants following pheromone trails, the interaction of sheep and wolves) and some non-standard ones (the creation of the world, 3 dogs playing games, and formation of stripes and spots in the skins of animals). The emphasis of the course is on the modeling process. A distinguishing feature is that students are able to compare and critique these models.