Welcome to an informational site for system dynamics introductory materials provided by The Center for Interdisciplinary Excellence in System Dynamics, LLP (CIESD).

Jeff Potash of CIESD continues many of the educational outreach activities he began with the Waters Center at Trinity College with John Heinbokel. Please investigate the MSST and Demo Dozen Materials available on this site for an example of the instructional materials CIESD has created.

Please contact CIESD with any questions or comments about these training materials. You are also invited to explore CIESD’s web site, which provides a variety of materials and discussions relevant to educators.

Modeling Systems Self-taught (MSST) is the most complete and polished of a developmental line of tutorial products produced over the years by CIESD. MSST was devised and constructed explicitly to support K-12 educators (teachers and administrators) in learning the conceptual and mechanical foundations of computer simulation modeling with STELLA®.

We have also found that middle- and high-school students, with proper motivation and guidance, can successfully work through these materials, as can professionals outside Education with a need to model. MSST has been used successfully as the primary source material for a graduate level on-line course in modeling and as homework in high school and college courses that require students to have some basic level of modeling skill.

The CIESD provides the Introduction and first 3 of the 17 Lessons of MSST for free at their site. A full 17 lesson set is also available for sale. Please contact the CIESD to let us know what you think and how well this material met your needs.

Welcome to "A Demo Dozen." This collection of 13 lessons and accompanying dynamic models, is constructed with the STELLA® (isee Systems, Inc.) modeling language. Demo Dozen is designed to support educators and students as they explore the pedagogic value of system dynamics in education. Equally relevant for those with no previous modeling experience and for experienced modelers alike, this array of models demonstrates the potential breadth of systems-based curriculum.

Please take the time to explore these units, to play with them, and most importantly, to think about how the type of subject material presented in them, and/or the type of process illustrated by them, might be of use to you and of interest to your students. In addition, each model is accompanied by a relatively simple explanation of the logic and mechanics of its construction to give you a sense of what goes into building such simulations.