Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation in Mathematics and Biology Education

With advances in computing, agent-based models (ABMs) have become a feasible and appealing tool to study biological systems. ABMs are seeing increased incorporation into both the biology and mathematics classrooms as powerful modeling tools to study processes involving substantial amounts of stochasticity, nonlinear interactions, and/or heterogeneous spatial structures. Here we present a brief synopsis of the agent-based modeling approach with an emphasis on its use to simulate biological systems, and provide a discussion of its role and limitations in both the biology and mathematics classrooms.