On learning electricity with multi-agent based computational models (NIELS)

We present NIELS (NetLogo Investigations in Electromagnetism, Sengupta & Wilensky, 2005, 2006), a multi-agent based learning environment that represents phenomena such as Electric Current, Resistance, etc in the form of "emergent" (Wilensky & Resnick, 1999) computational models. Based on a pilot implementation in a 7th grade classroom, we argue that NIELS models enable learners to "think in levels" (Wilensky & Resnick, 1999) which in turn enables them to bootstrap their existing object-based knowledge structures to engender a deep, expert-like understanding.