| Designing Instructional Units with a Systems Thinking/System Dynamics Approach |
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Author(s):
Lil Williams |
Subject:
Project Histories |
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From the GIST Project. A brief explanation, with specific examples using GIST curricula, of when and how a study can be enhanced with an ST/SD approach. |
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| Create and Run Your Own Newspaper: A Journalism Unit with a Simulation Game Part 3: Examine the Model |
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Author(s):
Daniel Barcan, Leah Zuckerman, Gary B. Hirsch, & Debra Lyneis |
Subject:
Cross-Curricular |
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Part 3 of a 3 part series. In this last part of a three-part journalism unit, students and teachers can take a closer look at the system dynamics model underlying the management flight simulator game from Part 2. There is a brief explanation of the model in simple terms, followed by a series of activities using the model as a laboratory.
Complex Systems Connection: Ineffective Action
Through this 3-part journalism unit, students can take on the role of newspaper owner. Using a simulation model, they can experience first-hand the complexity of managing a business. In complex systems, the levers we choose to push or pull often turn out to be low leverage policies, having little or no effect, or even the opposite effect of what was planned. This experience will help students gain an appreciation of how complex systems thwart our management of them through their interconnecting network of feedback loops. |
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 Zipped (Models & PDF)
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| Counterintuitive Behavior of Social Systems (D-4468-2) |
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Author(s):
Jay W. Forrester |
Subject:
System Dynamics |
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A paper introducing the concepts and applications of system dynamics. Forrester discusses social policies and their derivation from incomplete understandings of complex systems. Also appears as Chapter 14, pages 211-244, in author's Collected Papers 1975; and as Chapter 1, pages 3-30, in Toward Global Equilibrium: Collected Papers, 1973. Also in Road Maps 1. |
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| Consider The Gypsy Moth: An Example of System Dynamics for Carlisle |
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Author(s):
Debra Lyneis |
Subject:
Implementation |
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An explanation of how system dynamics would "look" and work in a curriculum, using the gypsy moth caterpillar as a concrete example of its application in a science curriculum. A simple presentation which clearly demonstrates how to start using and understanding basic system dynamics and modeling. |
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| Comments on Future of K-12 Education (D-4900-1) |
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Author(s):
Jay Forrester |
Subject:
System Dynamics |
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There is a fundamentally different kind of pre-college education that the author, along with many others, has been pioneering for more than twenty years. The demonstration phase is now completed and it is time to launch a major implementation program to expand into a growing number of schools. This is a long-range and difficult undertaking but necessary if K-12 schools are to produce citizens who are prepared for the challenges of the future. |
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| Can people learn behaviours of stock and flow using their ability to calculate running total? An experimental study |
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Author(s):
Tony Phuah |
Subject:
Research |
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Tony Phuah's Masters Thesis at the University of Bergen.
Stock and flow is the basis of dynamics. Understanding of stock and flow is crucial in comprehending and managing problems such as global warming and national debt. Yet previous experimental studies discovered that people performed poorly in simple stock-flow tasks. However, many do have notion of accumulation in terms of calculating running total. Here a pre-test-treatment-post-test experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that people's understanding of stock and flow behaviours will improve after asking them to verify their expected behaviour using running total calculation and reflect if their expected behaviour was wrong. Comparisons with conventional approach to teach stock and flow dynamics and without teaching were also done, to my knowledge, the first time in controlled experiment. Results show that improvement is not significant; the hypothesis lacks support. On the other hand, conventional approach obtains significant improvement. Possible explanations of the results and their implications for education on dynamics, communication of complex dynamic problems and policy insights are discussed. |
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Link to the file: https://bora.uib.no/handle/1956/4171
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| Can Education Reform Get in the Way of Reforming Education? A Simulator for Exploring Reform Strategies |
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Author(s):
Gary B. Hirsch |
Subject:
Implementation |
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This paper presents a simulator that school systems can use to understand the dynamics of education reform and, at an aggregate level, examine different strategies for implementing reform. It is based on a System Dynamics simulation model that represents key causal relationships among elements of reform and a system's ongoing operations. The simulator is a framework for helping school systems identify unanticipated and potentially damaging consequences of reform efforts. It can also help them determine combinations of reforms that work well together and can be mutually supportive. In addition, the simulator can help school systems and their constituencies understand the value of System Dynamics and Systems Thinking by applying them to issues of critical importance. |
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Zipped (Models & PDF)
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| Bumbles and Woofs: A Population Model |
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Author(s):
Rachel Henry |
Subject:
Cross-Curricular |
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This high school math lesson progresses from a simple population model to
a predator-prey model with an understandable and explicit sequence. The
teacher used Vensim simulation software for the class, but the lesson could
easily be modified for other simulation software such as Stella and Splash! |
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| Building Slightly More Complex Models: Calculators vs. STELLA |
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Author(s):
Diana M. Fisher |
Subject:
Research |
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If students are to develop the potential to effectively manage ubiquitous complex systems, it is becoming increasing important to develop systems thinking concepts and model building skills formally at the pre-college level. This paper describes an experiment conducted in two secondary school classrooms in the Pacific northwestern United States to determine the importance of access to a relatively new modeling tool for students to enable them to successfully create and analyze simple models that are slight extensions of traditional models, as compared with using graphing calculators to build and analyze the same extended model scenarios. |
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| Bringing System Dynamics to a School Near You: Suggestions for Introducing and Sustaining System Dynamics in K-12 Education. |
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Author(s):
Debra Lyneis |
Subject:
Implementation |
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Presented at the 2000 International System Dynamics Society Conference in Bergen, Norway, this paper explains how system dynamics is introduced and sustained in schools, outlining some of the many generous contributions that have made the early growth of K-12 system dynamics possible, and giving readers many resources and practical suggestions for how they can participate, too. Updated in 2013 by the Creative Learning Exchange. |
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