1 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So, today we are going to continue our talk about what the use of agent-based modelling is and what you can apply it to and where it has been used before. 2 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So, let us talk about education and communication. 3 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Agent-based models essentially can help us communicate our results to others. 4 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They essentially encapsulate maybe a theory we have about a complex system and the way it might work. 5 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And then we can transfer this model by providing it to somebody else. 6 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They encapsulate that knowledge in a way that is very easily transferable. 7 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And what is nice about that is that this knowledge could be a brand new theory about the world or could be a very old theory about the way the world works. 8 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So you could take, for instance as an case in NetLogo done in the past, theories of electromagnetism, build models about electromagnetism, and then use them to teach children about electromagnetism in new and different ways. 9 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They encourage exploration around those theories, around those pieces of knowledge. Because they allow, both children and [modern] adult learners to, kind of, play around with those tools and, kind of, see what comes out of them. 10 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Agent-based modelling can also be used as a touchstone. 11 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And by touchstone what I mean is an object that many people who might be talking about a particular subject can use and actually physically interact with in order to understand the properties of that theory, that system. Right? 12 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 These are also sometimes are called focal objects, because they focus the thinking done in a particular area. Or Papert, Seymour Papert called them 'objects to think with'. 13 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They are objects that you can use to share your thoughts with other people.