Sample Assignment: Is Segregation Inevitable?

Class: Sociology, Economics or other social sciences.  Possibly for MTH-139 (statistics) or MTH-143 (finite mathematics).

Objective: Students will utilize an online version of Thomas Schelling’s Segregation Model to discover some rather startling facts about segregation and integration, and the factors that contribute to them.

Themes: Segregation and Integration, “White Flight,” Mathematical Modeling

Assignment: Run the online Schelling Model following the five steps: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/complexity/models/seginteg/basicmodel.html. First read the “Understanding the Model” section of the web site, then Launch the model. Observe as the “entities” change locations depending on the % of entities similar to themselves. Once the model is finished, try modifying the strength of preference and the starting population. Determine if there is a way to maintain the integrated environment by decreasing or increasing the respective values.

Record your observations. Did the environment start off as integrated or segregated? After the model, was the environment in the same state, or did it change? How did the values strength of preference and starting population affect the end state of the environment? What happened when you decreased or increased the values?

Once you have drawn your conclusions, state your conclusions in a short paper. Also in your paper, compare your conclusions with the conclusions that Schelling and others who utilized his model drew: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/complexity/models/seginteg/implications.html. Are there any similarities or differences?

Submitted by Mario Borha