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Impact of K-12 SD on government
Posted by Lees Stuntz on 3/6/2007
This is an exchange that appeared on the System Dynamics Listserve which I thought you all might find of interest. The conversation started about the impact of system dynamics on the national government, or the lack thereof.
Posted by Steve Roderick
As a high school educator who uses system dynamics in the classroom I must
concur that frustration is a primary sentiment when gauging the apparent
penetration, or lack thereof, of systems principles into governmental
policy. It is difficult to know just how prevalent these ideas are. My
intuition rests with Jack Homer's assertion that there are many more people
using systems thinking than we might suspect.
A larger question might be, "when policy decisions are made, are those who
use SD and other systems approaches listened to by those who know little of
the field?" For real penetration there must be a willingness among policy
makers to use alternative approaches to viewing problems. Reaching a
critical mass of individuals with this willingness takes time, and it is the
"glacial pace" of change in the short term, that for me, brings on most of
the frustration.
If we step back though, and view over the long term, perhaps it is a change
that will occur over a time frame longer than one generation. We all know
that exponential growth can be quite deceptive at first. Over the many
years that I have been teaching it is clear that more and more of my
students are being exposed to the fundamental ideas behind systems thinking.
They return from University and relate stories of how what they learned in
high school concerning feedback and stocks and flows has been very useful to
them in college.
I have been teaching for 30 years. Jay Forrester's Industrial Dynamics was
published only a decade before that. Students from my first class of high
school seniors are now only 48 years old, just reaching what is likely the
age of governmental policy makers. Hopefully they will be the first of a
steadily growing cohort of open minded thinkers willing to use these
important ideas.
The concern expressed in the original posting was around penetration of
systems ideas into policy making. To get there we need to help people think
differently, and early education is our best hope.
Steven Roderick
Biology Teacher
Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School
Sudbury, MA
Posted by Steve Roderick
From: sdmail@lists.systemdynamics.org
Subject: REPLY SD Impact on National Government Policies (SD6144)
Date: January 5, 2007 6:38:08 AM EST
To: sdmail@lists.systemdynamics.org
Posted by "Dan Proctor"
This is in reply to posts re disseminating system dynamics in gov't,
education, and the general public.
I am organizing a test of the following hypothesis in my "civic backyard"
and encourage others to design and organize similar (or different) tests,
and let's see how much water the hypothesis holds. Suggestions welcome.
The hypothesis: If high school students versed in system dynamics use these
skills through the school's Community Service Program to facilitate
discussion by local civic organizations, then community support for the
teaching of system dynamics will increase; the number of students learning
system dynamics will increase along with the amount of time and interest
they devote to the subject; their skills at facilitating discussion and
teaching system dynamics to adult community leaders will increase; community
support for teaching system dynamics in the schools will further increase,
etc.
I have a WORD document with the above cast in causal-loop form and will
gladly send it.
I. Assorted "givens":
1. The teaching of system dynamics probably won't thrive in the schools
without community support.
2. System dynamics familiarity among community leaders/activists needs to
spread at a rapid rate (assuming such familiarity is probably a
pre-requisite to ecological and economic sustainability).
3. Small-town governments in New England have a plethora of official
volunteer boards, commissions, and committees. For example, Concord and
Sudbury in Mass. each have about 40. Many of these bodies are common to
most towns. Thus system dynamics diagrams and simulations developed for one
Board of Selectmen, school committee, conservation commission, or planning
board could be adapted for use by counterparts in other towns. Particularly
useful models with appropriate discussion and information could be posted on
the websites of state-wide associations of bodies such as school committees
and conservation commissions. It should also be noted that state legislators
are typically drawn from Boards of Selectmen and school committees.
4. These town entities are of an ideal size for holding system dynamics
"workshops"-they probably average fewer than 10 members.
5. Sierra Club would be a logical catalyst to persuade pertinent parties
to try the process outlined below, and, in cooperation with Creative
Learning Exchange, to assist the parties in the process (For a variety of
reasons I chose Sierra Club as the key organization to get this ball
rolling, but any civic organization you happen to belong to might serve for
testing the hypothesis).
For example, one member of the local School Committee is also a Sierra
Club member. She sees population growth as the top environmental issue.
Presumably she would be intrigued that so many SD models, including of
global warming and of schools, contain a population sector. From that
starting point she might soon see how an SD model of the school system could
be of great value to school committee members and administrators, and that
having a student facilitate informal, free introductory diagramming
workshops would be an excellent way of experimenting with the idea. The
school district might eventually employ a consultant to pick up where the
student leaves off and develop an extensive model that could not only be
used in managing the school but also in further teaching students (and the
town's Financial Committee) about system dynamics.
The school district might recoup its model-development costs by
licensing its model to other districts, which could hire system dynamicists
to adapt the model to their particulars.
This general process could be repeated with other town boards, such as
conservation commissions, planning boards, housing authorities, etc.
6. Sierra Club could also facilitate communication among counterpart
boards of different towns, inasmuch as many of the members of these bodies
are also Sierra Club members. Sierra Club could also facilitate the spread
of this process to other states, especially California, where Club
membership is most concentrated and active; and to cities and towns where
system dynamics is already taught in schools and colleges.
II. Steps in the process (once it has been "set up" in a town)
1. A town committee or other public-service organization wishing to engage a
student for one or more diagramming sessions places a request with the high
school or college's Community Service Coordinator (CSC).
2. The CSC puts one or two eligible students and a "contact teacher" in
touch with the committee/organization.
3. After settling on a date, topic, and other details, the student e-mails
or otherwise sends 2 or 3 pages of intro PDF files and instructions to the
committee members.
4. The contact teacher or student may examine the Creative Learning Exchange
website (www.clexchange.org) for diagrams, models, and other information
pertinent to the topic (over time a stock of useful models could be
accumulated).
5. If this is the student's first time to conduct such a session, a teacher
or other adult with system-diagramming experience accompanies him/her to the
workshop. Parents are also encouraged to attend.
6. Each committee member is expected to have pen and paper to copy any
drawings made by the student, as well as to keep notes during the session.
7. The student should strive to be more teacher than consultant. That is, to
explain all diagram-elements used, and why. In the latter half of the
workshop the student should ask committee members to come up singly and draw
in any aspects of the system which they think it needs. The student should
at this point become more of a coach, posing questions about the diagram as
it stands, asking for more details, for example about initial numeric values
of stocks, about time units, etc. but having the adults make the changes &
additions to the diagrams.
8. The student should end the session before participants tire. "Leave 'em
begging for more." The student's Community Service form is filled out and
signed by committee chair.
9. The student provides a handout to each participant with pertinent
resource information on system dynamics and if possible specific to the
topic being treated.
After the workshop:
10. Each participant is encouraged to download Vensim PLE and enter the
diagrams which he/she copied at the workshop. They are encouraged to then
practice adding additional diagram elements and/or building new diagrams,
and to write up questions, insights, need for further information, etc. for
their next meeting.
11. Participants are also encouraged to develop diagrams pertaining to their
work or other interests. A sub-hypothesis to be explored here is that
participating in a civic body that uses system dynamics can lead to
increasing one's professional skills.
12. Participants are asked to send evaluations of the workshop to the
contact teacher or other organizers. Evaluation and other follow-up forms
should be provided. The organizer and participants will decide, based on
these follow-up forms, whether a second workshop would be valuable, and if
so, plan its details.
13. If the committee wishes to pursue model development beyond the
capability of the students and contact teachers, the contact teacher can
provide a list of system dynamics consultants.
= = =
Dan Proctor
Concord, MA
Posted by "Dan Proctor"
From: sdmail@lists.systemdynamics.org
Subject: REPLY SD Impact on National Government Policies (SD6143)
Date: January 5, 2007 6:38:08 AM EST
To: sdmail@lists.systemdynamics.org
Posted by Steven Roderick
"So what puzzles me is why other great ideas do not have to wait so long
for widespread uptake?"
To Kim's wonderful observations I might add the following. It is an overused
analogy, but a pump must be primed if one expects an instantaneous flow of
water from it. It seems that change will come as a result of work on all
fronts. Priming is the work of educators. A public that knows of systems
is a public that can create action around systems. The actual work of moving
the pump handle will have to come from those who are active in the field.
Both Kim and Jay are absolutely right when they say that publishing for
lay person, on topics of immediate relevency, is necessary. Combined with
a knowledgeable (primed) public, perhaps rapid and "widespread uptake" is
possible. I have faith that there is more of a primed public out there
than we imagine.
Profound and sweeping concepts often do take time. I am reminded of the
fact that I came across Jay's work first in 1971, the same year that I
attended, as a student, a symposium at MIT on "Inadvertant Climate
Modification". For years I have taught about this in my high school classes
and consistently have felt frustrated and discouraged by the perceived lack
of change. Today, 35 years, a failed presidential attempt by Al Gore, and
an ensuing film on "Inconvenient Truths" later, I cannot escape discussion
of global warming. What happened? Perhaps a primed public that I was not
able to perceive, and the right publication at the right time.
Ah.... isn't all this complexity wonderful?
Jay, I'm running home to start my book ... just as soon as classes are over.
Steve Roderick
Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School
Posted by Steven Roderick
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