Dawn Sasek

Flocking Activity
IB 535
Dr. Alleyne
Summer 2014
Introuction
When this activity was posted early in Module 4, I knew I wanted to try to do this with a group
of my students but was completely confused about what the goal was. After I watched the videos
posted in Module 6 and read more about flocking behavior, I got some sort of idea about what I
was looking for but was !I"" #$%&'() *ha ha+. I went ahead and met with my students
yesterday *!uesday, ,uly --+ after band camp. I was able to recruit ./ students who were
willing to work for free cookies00 I also thought the computer simulation was very cool and I
wanted to see if, indeed, the flock would 1collapse2 into one big ball like happened in the
computer simulation when the second algorithm was followed *A3334$'3335+. Another
e6tension I tried was to apply the rule my students came up with to the computer simulation in
$7!I$% - to see if the same flock behavior materiali8ed.
!oals"

#omplete $ption . &locking 9roup Activity by following prompts as suggested in activity

:un a computer simulation from $ption - that matches the rules set by the group activity
from $ption . and compare results; look for similarities and differences between the
computer simulation and live group interactions.
#roceure$%esults

$ption .<

I met with my students ,uly --. !hirteen kids volunteered; I only had .=- hour to work
so I went pretty >uickly. While they were finishing band camp, I set up the videos of
the birds flocking in a room nearby so I could show them on a large screen the videos
of starlings flocking a moving in those ama8ing patterns we all saw in Module 6. !hey
were pretty ama8ed00 I asked them if it seemed like any birds were running into each
other; they all agreed that they were not colliding but somehow still moved as one. &I
wis' I woul 'ave aske t'em i( t'ere seeme to )e a leaer..I i
not ask t'is *uestion+ t'is seems to )e t'e main ,oint an I i not
'ave time to iscuss t'is wit' t'em..i went so (ast--.

After showing the flocking videos, I told the kids that I wanted them to pretend they are
birds moving. *I wasn?t sure if this was a good idea..@ust went with it+. I told them that
I was going to take them into the gym and have them pretend they are birds and that
one of them was a predator. !hey were to pick !W$ 7($7"( *iscretely an
ranomly. and pick one as A and one as 5. I told them that the first round they had
to pretend that person 5 was the predator and person A was the protector..they had to
keep themselves aligned like this *I ):(W !AI $% 5$A:) I% #"A:$$M<

4$'33333person A333333person 5

I then told them that in the second round they had to pick new persons A and 5
*iscretely an ranomly. and this time that had to keep themselves
between A and 5 *I drew this on the board<

7erson A3333334$'3333333person 5

I moved the students to the gym. I really wasn?t too confident that I was doing this
right but I had them start out sort of spread out. Asked them to choose their persons A
and 5 and on the sound of 9$ I had them pretend 5 was the predator and A was their
protector and to orient themselves so A was between them and 5.

!:IA" $%(

A(:( I !A( 4$' !'5( BI)($ $& M4 &I:! :$'%) WI!A !A(
#$%&I9':A!I$% < /01222222,erson A222222,erson B

If you hear my voice, I think I might be leading too much or saying too much; wasn?t
sure If I was doing this right but what is cool about this first trial with the 4$'33A335
orientation is that the flock seemed to move in a swarm, continuous circling motion and
once in a while, one member would move out and the swarm followed...very cool.
"ooked like the motion I saw in the bird video; where spontaneously, the flock would
switch directions and still move in a circular motion, in a new general direction. If you
watch the video again, you can kind of see this happening.

!:IA" -< %(W #onfiguration< #erson A22222/012222#erson B

4$' !'5( BI)($ "I%C 7A:! -

!his was the coolest....@ust like predicted by the readings, the student flock collapsed,
*imploded+ on itself. I was so e6cited00 4ou can hear my voice in the video. Bery, very
cool00 !he whole circle @ust fell into itself00

%e6t step was to ask the group to come up with rules to prevent collapse. I was pretty
rushed here; I only had about .=- hour with the kids. I was trying to give them some
ideas..the seniors suggested that we keep five foot distance between students. I had them
show what five feet looks like *the floor @oints are cut in one foot sections+.

Aere is the video clip of the kids with the &IB( &$$! )I!A%#( :'"( keeping the A333
4$'3335 configuration. *I wasn?t sure if I should keep the A33334$'33335, so I @ust went
with this and added the five foot rule+. 34%4 IS 534 /01 51B4 6ID40 7I53 FI64
F005 %184 ADD4D 7I53 534 A2222/0122222B con9guration.

I did %$! have time to repeat this rule trial or add more rules. What I did see here is that
it appeared that initially, the flock e6panded and contracted while still maintaining a
circular motion. !owards the end it seemed that they all came to a stop in the middle
*imploded+ because they all stopped moving. I wasn?t sure if that had to be a rule..
DID 464%/0:4 3A64 50 ;0:5I:14 50 <064= I might not have been very
clear on this but the five foot rule definitely prolonged the time it took before the flock
imploded.

Discussion"
I must admit that I was totally e6cited when the flock collapsed, as predicted from the reading,
when the students followed the A33334$'33335 configuration. *,ust like in the computer link
simulation in $7!I$% . prompts+0 !AI WA $ #$$". I was truly surprised to see the
student flock moving in a constant circular motion..really interesting. !he following is a brief
summary of what I e6perienced in this e6ercise< Aere I am using the bullet list from the $7!I$%
. prompt as a guide to organi8e my thoughts.

Simple rules of individual behavior can lead to surprisingly coherent system level
results.

This was demonstrated in all of the exercises in the videos I posted. Some extremely basic
rules resulted in a swirling pattern of motion that was sustained within the small group of
students I worked with. Over time, the motion stopped because the kids didnt know what
to do; had I had more time, I could have repeated each rule set and had explicit instructions
that they must keep moving...wish I had more time with them. THE COHESION was very
apparent; the swarm seemed to stay together by simply following one rule of position.

Small changes in rules or in the way they are applied can have significant impact on
the system level results.

This idea was demonstrated in my FIVE-FOOT-RULE video from above. Here, the
kids kept the A-----YOU-------B rule but added the five foot distance. The swarm did not
immediately collapse as did before, but seemed to keep moving and expand and collapse,
and expand and collapse. At the end, the flock collapsed and this was because the stopped
moving. If I had more time, I would have a discussion and ask them to come up with some
rule to prevent the collapse. you can see in the video that they all clumped together in the
end but THE WERE NOT FOLLOWING THE FIVE FOOT RULE (they came to close;
broke the rule).

Intuition can be a particularly poor guide to prediction of the behavior of complex

systems above a few levels of complexity.

I am not 100% sure if this angle is a good analogy for this prompt but I could not predict
which way the student swarm would move, not the speed or size. The swarm seemed to
expand and contract and swirl in a direction that I could not predict, nor did I know which
student bird would lead the flock in one direction. Some of the boys in the video seem to
be leading the flock to the center, but not all of the time.

Simulation is a powerful tool for understanding the dynamics of complex systems.

I now know how true this is. The Option 1 reading has a link to the article article about
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES and how they used ants to model boarding behaviors. I found
this absolutely fascinating how models of ant behavior can be used to predict best boarding
practices in human platforms.
1
After seeing my student swarm collapse following one basic
rule, I began to think of the famous mathematician, NASH who used the random movments
of pigeons to write the famous Game Theory algorithm. (I found an article from Journal of
Experimental Behavior that uses Nash Theory and
Pigeons..CRAZY..http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2648521/). After
seeing my student flock behave (implode) as predicted I was fascinated. I can see how a
mathematician would devote much time observing seemingly random patterns in natural
systems to develop a model that can be applied to an manmade system to secure some
average outcome, or at least predict an overall response (like boarding a plane quickly,
outcomes of bets, ect).

Answers to Questions:

Did the rules work right away? In the first two videos, the rules seemed to work
quickly, but when the students added the distance rule, it took a few moments before the
students got used to the rule and at the end of the segment, they started to come back togther
again. I NEEDED TO REPEAT but did not have time.

Did they break down or begin to work over time? Added rules seemed to increase and
decrease overtime like a BELL curve..mainly I think because my kids became confused or tired
from running.

Modify and/or add rules and restart the simulation. I did not have time to repeat or
modify..the kids were on a time schedule.

Were the rules adequate to generate flocking behavior or did people start
improvising?Some people starting improvising by running faster or stopping..I did not tell
them how fast or slow to move; this would have been a great rule to add but I ran out of time.

Which rules were the most important or effective? The distance rule was definitely
effective at delaying the time in took for the flock to implode when following the A----YOU----B
protocol.

Can we drop a rule and still get flocking behavior? I dont think I did enough trials to
answer this question. I could not drop the distance rule or the flock would eventually collapse
into itself...so far, this is the only rule I added.

Would the rules be adequate to avoid a stationary obstacle? What about a

predator? I wish I had time to be the predator and jump in to see how they would react. MY
GAME would NOT be good enough for a predator. I would need to develop more rules.

I originally planned on running the OPTION 2 computer with the same rules my students
came up with. I am still going to do this but I am running out of time for this posting.
Will add when I finsih.

1"An Excerpt from The Smart Swarm by Peter Miller." Mission to Learn Lifelong Learning Blog
RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 July 2014. <http://www.missiontolearn.com/book-excerpts/smart-
swarm/