30  The Islands

This is so a resource I wish I had created!

Michael Bullmer, from Brisbane, Queensland, in Australia (where they make Bluey), created a simulation of a bunch of people living in villages on a small archipelago. He designed it to be used in a stats class, so you can perform experiments or just do observational studies.

Getting to the Islands

You’ll need a login. Write to [email protected].

Then, go to https://islands.smp.uq.edu.au/login.php

I love just exploring and looking for phenomena about which I can collect data, make claims, and construct visualizations to evaluate and document my claims. The problem (and beauty) with this simulation is that, as in real life, collecting data takes time and effort. Therefore, it would be really great to have help.

I measured Leigh’s pulse. This took less than a minute, but long enough so that if I wanted to do 100 people, it would take a long time. Notice that I had to get his consent first. He doesn’t look too happy; I’m concerned.

A project, therefore, goes something like this:

  1. You introduce students to the web site, demonstrating briefly how things work.
  2. You turn them loose, probably in pairs, to explore and find out what they can. Ideally, this is open-ended, but if you are more pressed for time, you can give them a kind of scavenger hunt, or even specific tasks (e.g., go to any house, ask someone inside to participate in a study, and measure their pulse).
  3. Debrief this free exploration, finding out who has learned what, and letting them share. Now all the students should know a wider range of what’s possible than they found on their own.
  4. Homework! Explore a bit more and come up with an idea for a project that takes more than four people to complete.
  5. In class, do pair-share (homework was think). List all the ideas. Process that list to come up with a short list of project ideas. Honor all ideas, of course, but you’re the adult in the room who can help choose the ones that will work.
  6. Let students form groups of more than four and pick a topic. It’s OK to duplicate. In fact, it’s OK if the whole class does the same project. (I did this—we studied an epidemic we found. I made myself in charge of setting procedures for sharing the data on Google Sheets)
Tip

Are you the teacher?

If so, you know that you absolutely have to try out some of this before you show it to students, right? It’s wonderful for them to discover some things that you don’t know, but you must follow the principle of having a “deep bench”: you have to have, in your pocket, an interesting thing to study, ready to go.

30.1 Island essentials

Here are some things it’s good to know. Consider which of these you would demonstrate to students, which you would put on a scavenger hunt, and which you just want them to find out on their own.

  • Time is always flowing. Sometimes people are asleep. Remember that this is based in Australia.
  • There is a system for recording dates. I like students to figure it out, but so you know: there are 28 days in a year :).
  • When you log in, you start with a map. Click on a town to see all its buildings.
  • The buildings are numbered, so an address is a town plus the number.
  • If you click on a house, you see a list of the people in it.
  • Anywhere you see the name of a person, you can click to get their page.
  • A person’s page includes
    • links to their immediate relatives
    • a detailed history
    • a button for tasks
  • Tasks require consent and take time. There are a wide variety of tasks.
  • In each town, there is a town hall, with records. We discovered epidemics in death records.
  • Other special buildings might include a school and a newspaper.
  • In addition to towns, there are other places with data, such as agricultural research stations. There you can design and perform experiments.