Subject: K-12 SD Research

Posted by Wesley Burt on 7/25/2003
In Reply To:K-12 SD Research Posted by Linda Booth Sweeney on 7/25/2003

Message:

Good day Linda,

I am a recent subscriber to list K-12 SD and have not yet
decided whether or not my experience as a mechanical
engineer, working in electrical power systems, would be
of any value to members of K-12 SD.

In your Mon, 30 June 2003 reply to Tim you write:

"In their 1977 study The hydraulic cycle and the
wisdom of the child, Kates and Katz found that
some 4 year olds could draw accurate descriptions of the
hydraulic cycle. I think 5 to 6 year olds are more than capable
of learning about cycles and feedback structures and even
making some distinctions between the two."

By "hydraulic cycle" I understand the closed loop consisting
of the oceans, evaporation, weather, precipitation, the land,
and rivers flowing back to the oceans. The successful
performance of this cycle makes the Earth habitable. Closely
related to the hydraulic cycle is the economic cycle which
sustains human life, often at the expense of one or more of
the elements in the hydraulic cycle.

Please find attached a graphical macro model of the flow of
goods and services (G&S)produced by the workforce, and the
capital plant they have constructed, from the workforce until
the G&S are consumed or accumulated as wealth in the
capital plant. Fig4.3 has been on the WWW since 1994 and
seems to be fairly robust. The proportion of the two flows in
the 250% of GDP "real economy" owe something to C. H.
Douglas' A + B theory, but they owe more to Wassily Leontief's
1966 book on Input/Output Economics. A change of scale,
above the real economy, is necessary to keep the flow ($/year)
of speculative transactions on the same sheet of paper. The
most recent revision of Fig4.3 moved the total tax rate to its
present location, to aid in explaining how a shift from direct
taxes to indirect taxes shifts the tax burden from high incomes
to low incomes. Micro aspects of the flow through the Macro
Model are shown by seven other figures in the URL below.

Please feel free to use these visual-aids in any way that would
benefit your K-12 members.
Kind regards,

Wes Burt