Subject: System Dynamics and Homeschooling

Posted by Jesse Richmond on 4/23/2004
In Reply To:System Dynamics and Homeschooling Posted by Richard V Daddi on 4/22/2004

Message:

Hello Rich,

There are three STELLA-based products that you might find applicable, and that many middle and high school teachers are using across the U.S. today.
I have listed these System Dynamics products (two for science, one for math), and their descriptions below. To learn more, go to:
www.iseesystems.com.

1. Food Chain - Students will build a deep understanding of how food chains work by conducting computer simulation-based experiments in a virtual lake ecosystem. They'll design the experiments by choosing the plant and animal species they wish to include and/or by adjusting various ecosystem parameters. Students will then test their hypotheses through simulation and, finally, explain their results. In the process, they'll develop a thorough understanding of the dynamics of trophic level interdependencies, while honing their skills in applying the scientific method. The Learning Lab also contains an optional section called Generalizing. In this section, students will re-discover several of the key concepts they encountered in Food Chain in contexts more directly related to their everyday lives. Food Chain is suitable for use with students ranging from Middle School through High School and Introductory College Biology/ Environmental Science courses.

2. Fly a Cell - Biology is about "systems"—how things work together, such as the organs within an organism. Interdependency is the name of the game. Fly a Cell is the perfect match for teaching this lesson. Fly a Cell is an inquiry-based science experiment that takes students from beyond memorizing names and functions to building their understanding of how cells work as dynamic systems.

3. Lessons in Mathematics - Mathematics is tough-sledding for many. The difficulty is that most students fail to appreciate that mathematics is "just a language." It happens to be a very rigorous language, one with very little ambiguity associated with its symbols. It's also a very abstract one.
And it's primarily the latter attribute, abstractness, which causes many students to falter. Diana Fisher's Lessons in Mathematics: A Dynamic Approach is going to help a lot of these students! Diana's book offers loads of problems that students will find both interesting and fun. She then makes use of the STELLA software's icon-based, non-abstract language to structure these problems in ways that students can easily visualize. Students then can make use of the software's simulation capabilities to explore solutions to the problems. Diana's years of teaching have helped to ensure that her lessons are right-out-of-the-box-ready for you to use in your classroom today.

Jesse Richmond
President
iseesystems, inc.
www.iseesystems.com