Teacher resources for incorporating AgentSheets in the classroom

If you are a teacher trying to incorporate programming into your classes, game design is a great way to do it. Below are some resources that will support you. Please contact us with any feedback or questions about this material.

Please note that some of this material assumes you are using the Windows or the Intel Mac version of AgentSheets.

videos	Training videos for different aspects of the AgentSheets tool that among others include the Getting Started tutorial and using Ristretto to create Java applets

tutorials	Buiding the Frogger game: a tutorial created by Burke Taft and updated by Mark Savignano, technology teachers in the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD), as a guide for students to build the classic arcade game of Frogger. To include this tutorial in a larger design activity, Mark also created this design packet to go along with the simulation building guide.
	Building the Robinhood game: using diffusion-based agent tracking techniques, this tutorial created by Mark Savignano of BVSD gives student a step-by-step guide to build games where one character is followed by others. advanced material
manuals	Anatomy of a Project: describes the structure of AgentSheets projects can be useful when files get misplaced (even though we suggest always letting the system take care of where to put files, in case things get misplaced, this can help you figure out where to put for instance worksheets that are not in the right place for the project manager to open them correctly)
	Getting started: a step-by-step introduction on how to build your first project, the Virus Attack simulation a good first exposure for the students
	Reference Manual: a description of the complete menu structure of AgentSheets including all the dialog boxes, tools, action commands, condition commands, triggers, parameters and simulation properties useful to learn about details of specific operations and commands language reference can be accessed from within the application by selecting a command in the palletes and clicking on the "Web Help" button
	Quick reference: provides quick intro to some of the terminology used in the context of AgentSheets and brief explanations how to use AgentSheets. please note that some of the screenshots are fairly old and shows from the Mac version. For completely up-to-date information, please refer to the application manuals.

academic	Papers: More information about AgentSheets and how it has been used in educational papers
	Applications such as simulations could play a major role in improving school quality ("Report to the President on the Use of Technology to Strengthen K-12 Education in the United States", by the Panel on Educational Technology from President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, 1997). Moreover, a study by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) found that students in classes which used computer simulations to teach mathematics made significant gains on standardized tests, and scored significantly higher than did students in classes where computers were used for “drill and practice” ("Does it Compute? The Relationship Between Educational Technology and Student Achievement in Mathematics", by Wenglinsky, 1998).