Interactive pandemic simulation to encourage critical thinking
| Thesis title in Czech: | Interactive pandemic simulation to encourage critical thinking |
|---|---|
| Thesis title in English: | Interactive pandemic simulation to encourage critical thinking |
| Key words: | simulation|data visualization |
| English key words: | simulation|data visualization |
| Academic year of topic announcement: | 2023/2024 |
| Thesis type: | Bachelor's thesis |
| Thesis language: | čeština |
| Department: | Department of Distributed and Dependable Systems (32-KDSS) |
| Supervisor: | Mgr. Tomáš Petříček, Ph.D. |
| Author: | hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept. |
| Date of registration: | 25.03.2024 |
| Date of assignment: | 25.03.2024 |
| Confirmed by Study dept. on: | 22.04.2025 |
| Date and time of defence: | 19.06.2025 09:00 |
| Date of electronic submission: | 07.05.2025 |
| Date of submission of printed version: | 07.05.2025 |
| Date of proceeded defence: | 19.06.2025 |
| Opponents: | doc. RNDr. Jan Kofroň, Ph.D. |
| Guidelines |
| A computer simulation is an effective way of understanding a complex phenomena such as the spread of a virus during a pandemic. In the context of Covid-19, simulations have been used by scientists to model human behaviour and make policy decisions [5], but simulations can also be used to encourage critical thinking about problem [2]. This requires a very different kind of design [2].
The aim of the thesis is to design and implement an interactive simulation that encourages critical thinking about the spread of a virus in a pandemic and policies to mitigate the spread. The resulting simulation should inspire readers to ask their own questions about the problem (such as, what is the effect of different interventions, how sensitive the model is to given assumptions). The aim is not to develop a complex scientifically accurate model, but to build a simple engaging simulation that may be used e.g., by journalists to inspire critical thinking [1] as done for example in [3,5]. |
| References |
| [1] Bounegru, Liliana, and Jonathan Gray. The data journalism handbook: Towards a critical data practice. Amsterdam University Press, 2021.
[2] Victor, Bret. Explorable Explanations. Available online: https://worrydream.com/ExplorableExplanations/, 2011 [3] Stevens, Harry. Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to “flatten the curve”. The Washington Post. Available online: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/, 2020 [4] Mrozek, Michal, et al. "Interactive Visualization of Agent-Based Pandemic Simulation in Web Browser." 2022 23rd International Conference on Computational Problems of Electrical Engineering (CPEE). IEEE, 2022. [5] Lorig, Fabian, Emil Johansson, and Paul Davidsson. "Agent-based social simulation of the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review." Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 24.3 (2021). |