Subject: Using Stories to Teach System Dynamics

Posted by Niall Palfreyman on 12/27/2010
In Reply To:Using Stories to Teach System Dynamics Posted by Paul Newton on 12/26/2010

Message:

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I've been agitating for some time now for the use of story-telling as a model of how complex biological systems work, so clearly I'm going to find it difficult to let go of that position. On the other hand I think the author of this article has a point: turning a complex issue like the environment into a single localised, personalised incident can trivialise it. What I'm left with is the realisation that I distinguish between "stories" and "story-telling".

A story in the sense of the article has a completeness about it which can successfully put across a point, but which can give a false impression of issues which are more open-ended.

Story-telling, on the other hand, is not so neat. When I tell a story to a group, it is coloured partly by what I want to say, but also by the concerns, experiences and tensions in the group. The story which arises is as much a creation of the audience as of the teller. This process of spinning a yarn, of narration around the campfire, is I think similar to the interactivity which the author of this article is talking about.

So I think my point of view is that an SD model does not so much tell a story, as define a framework within which the user can create a story of his/her own choice, but which fulfills the constraints of a central plot.

Follow Ups:

Using Stories to Teach System Dynamics - Niall Palfreyman 12/27/2010 
Using Stories to Teach System Dynamics - Niall Palfreyman 12/28/2010
Using Stories to Teach System Dynamics - Bill Braun 12/27/2010 
Using Stories to Teach System Dynamics - Della Robinson 12/27/2010