An agent-based model to support community forest management and non-timber forest product harvesting in northern Thailand

Agent-based models are popular in common-pool resource management to represent complex systems and stimulate collective action and management, where they are used to evaluate scenarios of stakeholders’ choice in participatory simulations. We developed the “CoComForest” (COllaborative COMmunity FOREST management) model to support community forest management (CFM) and non-timber forest product (NTFP) harvesting in Nan Province, northern Thailand. The model was used as a computer-based role-playing game to support sharing of perceptions and knowledge among stakeholders, and in participatory simulations to explore future CFM scenarios. The Unified Modelling Language was used to build the conceptual model, subsequently implemented under the CORMAS (COmmon-pool Resource and Multi-Agent System) simulation platform. Several tests were conducted in the laboratory for verification and calibration before using this tool with 21 diverse stakeholders during a field workshop. Three different participatory gaming and simulation sessions were organized. The first one focused on the co-validation of the model with participants. They accepted most of the model functionalities and the scheduling of the rounds of play. The model was used in the subsequent two sessions to simulate the scenarios of firebreak establishment and introduction of outsiders intensively harvesting NTFPs, respectively. The results showed that the intensive harvesting practices of outsiders accelerated the depletion of resources, whereas the prevention of wildfire by establishing firebreaks could increase the resource availability in the landscape. The debriefing session at the end of the workshop focused on the analysis of simulation results and the relationships between the players’ decision-making and their actual circumstances. Individual in-depth interviews conducted after the workshop helped to evaluate the use of this model with local stakeholders. Most participants considered the model as a useful common representation of the system they manage collectively. Its use in participatory simulations facilitated communication among the stakeholders searching for an adapted and acceptable collective action plan to improve CFM at the sub-district level in order to prevent the overharvesting of NTFPs by outsiders.

Learning about Complex Systems from the Bottom Up

The topic of learning through collaborative role-playing in computer-based participatory simulations of complex systems in STEM is presented. Participatory simulations are networked classroom activities aimed at learning about complex systems. In the process of learning, students query its underlying structure and explore its spatial, temporal and mathematical patterns in various conditions. The importance of understanding complex systems is highlighted, driving the main question in this chapter: How can we design learning experiences that support students' deep learning of emergent systems? The motivations behind using participatory simulations and their various designs are described as well as some of the more central learning research, cumulating with five studies into designs for such activities in science. Based on this research, eight design principles are introduced and future research directions are proposed.

Designing BioSim

In this chapter, we discuss the design decisions made when creating the game mechanics and rules for BioSim, a pair of game-like participatory simulations centered around honeybees and army ants to help young children (ages kindergarten through third grade) explore complex systems concepts. We outline four important design principles that helped us align the games and simulations to the systems thinking concepts that we wanted the students to learn: (1) Choose a specific and productive focal topic; (2) Build on game mechanics typically found in children's play; (3) Purposefully constrain children's play to help them notice certain system elements; and (4) Align guiding theories to game rules, and vice versa. We then highlight how these guiding principles can be leveraged to allow young children to engage with complex systems concepts in robust ways, and consider our next steps and goals for research as we continue to iterate and build on these games.

Learning about Complex Systems from the Bottom Up

The topic of learning through collaborative role-playing in computer-based participatory simulations of complex systems in STEM is presented. Participatory simulations are networked classroom activities aimed at learning about complex systems. In the process of learning, students query its underlying structure and explore its spatial, temporal and mathematical patterns in various conditions. The importance of understanding complex systems is highlighted, driving the main question in this chapter: How can we design learning experiences that support students' deep learning of emergent systems? The motivations behind using participatory simulations and their various designs are described as well as some of the more central learning research, cumulating with five studies into designs for such activities in science. Based on this research, eight design principles are introduced and future research directions are proposed.

Designing BioSim

In this chapter, we discuss the design decisions made when creating the game mechanics and rules for BioSim, a pair of game-like participatory simulations centered around honeybees and army ants to help young children (ages kindergarten through third grade) explore complex systems concepts. We outline four important design principles that helped us align the games and simulations to the systems thinking concepts that we wanted the students to learn: (1) Choose a specific and productive focal topic; (2) Build on game mechanics typically found in children's play; (3) Purposefully constrain children's play to help them notice certain system elements; and (4) Align guiding theories to game rules, and vice versa. We then highlight how these guiding principles can be leveraged to allow young children to engage with complex systems concepts in robust ways, and consider our next steps and goals for research as we continue to iterate and build on these games.