Subject: Systems Language - causal connection

Posted by Tim Joy on 2/7/2010
In Reply To:Systems Language - causal connection Posted by Tim Joy on 2/6/2010

Message:

Someone please check my logic with the polarities.

The more time you spend playing basketball the less time you spend on hw less time on hw worse grades worse grades more likely mom will ground you from playing basketball means less time playing bb

[image 1]

You'll see that I added the delay on the connection from doing HW to grades. I do wonder a bit about my word choice here, but I am placing this here as a beginning point. This closed loop can certainly be understood by most young students. There is this starting point.

And then there is this:

[image 2]

So, maybe the first is a Dr. Seuss, One Fish, Two Fish kind of diagram making the second diagram akin Tolstoy's War and Peace. In between these is a lot of space that requires our huge efforts in teaching. The closed loop that contains a significant delay (i.e., some slow unnoticed accumulation that breaks through a threshold) is the kind that interests me and seems non-intuitive; that is, we have to teach people that these exist in surprising places.

What would the bball causal loop look like if we added the coach's awareness of his player's poor grades? What about peer pressure? What about the quality of the mom-daughter relationship?

Tim Joy

Follow Ups:

Systems Language - causal connection - Jennifer Arzberger 2/8/2010 
Systems Language - causal connection - Niall Palfreyman 2/9/2010
Systems Language - causal connection - Bill Braun 2/9/2010
Systems Language - causal connection - Niall Palfreyman 2/11/2010
Systems Language - causal connection - Paul Newton 2/8/2010
Systems Language - causal connection - Warren Farr 2/8/2010
Systems Language - causal connection - Zachary Lawrence 2/8/2010
Systems Language - causal connection - Bill Braun 2/7/2010 
Systems Language - causal connection - Tim Joy 2/8/2010