Summer SAVY 2016 (Session 4AM/PM, Day 4) – The Science of Complexity

Posted by hallep on Thursday, July 14, 2016 in Grade 1, Grade 2, SAVY.

Today we continued our investigation of ants with an experiment about ants’ foraging patterns. We found that in smaller places, ants turn more often and seem to move in more random patterns. In large places, ants move in straighter lines. We learned that this pattern makes ants more efficient, and that scientist use ants’ foraging patterns as models for efficient searches on electronic networks or for robots searching minefields or burning buildings! We found that ants know how big their space is by checking their frequency of interactions with other ants, and tested this out by acting as ants. Then, we added this new information into our computational models. Tomorrow we will learn more about why some of our trash balloons are filling up with air and what happens to our trash.