"Bullying is a topic that has been getting a lot more attention recently since it is seen as a contributor to school shootings, and teachers and school officials would benefit from an agent-based model (ABM) that helps them understand the dynamics of how bullying occurs. This mode describes the preliminary version of an ABM developed in NetLogo (Wilensky, 1999) that generates a set of children who have different genders, levels of aggression, tolerance toward others, desire to play alone, and other characteristics. Children play on a simulated open playground, and choose to play with other children based on homophily in characteristics. More aggressive children in a group with others choose to bully other children playing alone who are sufficiently different from them. Teachers on the playground will place the bully in detention for a period of time if they observe the bullying occurring. The model shows the interaction of social dynamics within the physical space of a playground, modified by the “policing” actions of teachers, but needs additional work in order to calibrate it to properly reflect real world behaviors."
Teacher Agent Characteristics
Child Agent Characteristics
Play Status State Flow Diagram with Minimum Time in New State:
Teachers' Status State Flow Diagram
The NetLogo Graphical User Interface of the Model:
Version of NetLogo: NetLogo 6.1.0
Semester Created: Spring 2014.