Big Game Theory 2020

June 22, 2020

Big Game Theory 2020

Screenshot of instructional video.

Our awesome team just completed our second Big Game Theory summer camp for middle schoolers at the PAST Foundation. The goal of the Big Game Theory camp is to train campers to use a systems approach to solve sustainability problems. More generally, the goal is that campers start to think of societal problems as complex systems that can be modeled and explored with games and agent-based models. Campers develop these skills through a series of interrelated activities including (1) learning to code in NetLogo Web, an agent-based modeling web app; (2) run what-if simulations in their models and interpret the results, and (3) playing games that explore questions about cooperation and sustainability. The camp went very well. Both the campers and instructors enjoyed the camp – even though it was in an entirely new virtual environment. We really got the sense that campers thought that science was fun.