Soda/Profit/Advertising Game |
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Author(s):
Sam DeVore, Will Glass-Husain, & Mike Slootmaker |
Subject:
Cross-Curricular |
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From Catalina Foothills School District. STELLA II v. 3.0 models of the MIT Beer Game, called the Soda Game in our high school version, where students operate a retail soda business. Worksheets included.
Complex Systems Connection: Cause within System. |
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Zipped (Models & PDF)
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Smallpox Crisis Management Simulation |
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Author(s):
Ron Zaraza |
Subject:
Cross-Curricular |
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Twenty-three students from three Portland area high schools accepted an invitation to serve as part of the CMT for an unspecified disaster simulation. In 30 hours at Wilson High School, they went from the introduction of the problem to a fully developed and model-tested plan for dealing with a smallpox outbreak, reducing deaths from a possible 750,000+ to fewer than 250. They developed a control plan that used the same strategies the World Health Organization developed over a ten-year period for dealing with smallpox outbreaks.
Complex Systems Connection: Separate Cause and Effect. For some illness/disease, symptoms appear long after initial infection. Sometimes people travel great distance while infected because they are unaware of the infection. Medical "detectives" faced with an epidemic must understand how the infection spreads and how quickly. Delays in the system make this more difficult. |
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Zipped (Models & PDF)
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Shape of Change (Lesson 9): The Connection Game, including Stocks and Flows |
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Author(s):
Rob Quaden, Alan Ticotsky, & Debra Lyneis |
Subject:
Cross-Curricular |
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From "The Shape of Change." Students play a game in which their movements around the room depend on the movements of other players.
Complex Systems Connection: Ineffective Action, Incorrect High-Leverage Policies. This lesson can be used to gain an intuitive understanding of what it means to say a policy has "low leverage." This lesson can be used to gain an intuitive understanding of what it means to say a policy has "high leverage." |
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PDF
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Shape of Change (Lesson 7): The Tree Game Puzzle, including Stocks and Flows |
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Author(s):
Rob Quaden, Alan Ticotsky, & Debra Lyneis |
Subject:
Cross-Curricular |
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From "The Shape of Change." This puzzle is an extension of the Tree Game. After playing the Tree Game, students explore what happens to the number of trees in a forest following a variety of planting and harvesting policies. In the Stocks and Flows lesson, students begin to learn to clarify their thinking, and experience the power of making stock/flow maps.
Complex Systems Connection: Short and Long Term Conflicts, Cause within System. People sometimes decide to use natural resources to meet present goals (satisfy customers, increase profits) and ignore long-term consequences. In systems where renewable resources are used up, people often blame others. Decisions to use the resource faster than it can be replenished is the real cause, however. |
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PDF
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Shape of Change (Lesson 5): The Infection Game, including Stocks and Flows |
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Author(s):
Rob Quaden, Alan Ticotsky, & Debra Lyneis |
Subject:
Cross-Curricular |
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From "The Shape of Change." Students play a game that simulates the spread of an epidemic. The included Infection Game stock/flow map combines all the elements that were used in the previous lessons. Students apply all that they have learned about behavior over time graphs, stocks and flows, and reinforcing and balancing feedback loops to understand how and why the infection spread among them.
Complex Systems Connection: Separate Cause and Effect. For some illness/disease, symptoms appear long after initial infection. Sometimes people travel great distance while infected because they are unaware of the infection. Medical "detectives" faced with an epidemic must understand how the infection spreads and how quickly. Delays in the system make this more difficult. |
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PDF
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Shape of Change (Lesson 4): It's Cool, including Stocks and Flows |
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Author(s):
Rob Quaden, Alan Ticotsky, & Debra Lyneis |
Subject:
Cross-Curricular |
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From "The Shape of Change." Students engage in the scientific method as they measure, record, and graph the changing temperature of a cooling cup of boiling water, learning why the change happens with the use of stock/flow diagrams. |
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PDF
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Shape of Change (Lesson 3): The Mammoth Game, including Stocks and Flows |
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Author(s):
Rob Quaden, Alan Ticotsky, & Debra Lyneis |
Subject:
Cross-Curricular |
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From "The Shape of Change." Teams of students play a dice and graphing game to track the population growth and decline of a herd of twenty mammoths, including learning why change occurs by means of stock/flow diagrams. |
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PDF
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Shape of Change (Lesson 2): Making Friends, including Stocks and Flows |
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Author(s):
Rob Quaden, Alan Ticotsky , & Debra Lyneis |
Subject:
Cross-Curricular |
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From "The Shape of Change." A non-competitive tagging game, wherein students track the rate of growth of friendship and discover the effect of rates of growth, including showing why change occurs by means of stock/flow diagrams. |
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PDF
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Shape of Change (Lesson 11): Keystone Species in an Ecosystem--Using Connnection Circles to Tell the Story, including Stocks and Flows |
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Author(s):
Rob Quaden, Alan Ticotsky, & Debra Lyneis |
Subject:
Cross-Curricular |
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From "The Shape of Change." Students read a chapter from a skillfully written science book and use connection circles to unravel a mystery of nature. In the Stocks and Flows lesson, students will build the stock/flow map from the ground up.
Complex Systems Connection: Separate Cause and Effect, Short and Long Term Conflicts. This lesson illustrates how scientists often see effects or results of actions that set consequences in motion many years prior. They must link the effects back to the root cause or causes of the problem. Part of the backstory for this lesson illustrates that hunters aiming for profit in the short term can destroy the resource so it's not available in the long term. |
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PDF
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Shape of Change (Lesson 10): Do You Want Fries With That? Learning about Connection Circles, including Stocks and Flows |
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Author(s):
Rob Quaden, Alan Ticotsky, & Debra Lyneis |
Subject:
Cross-Curricular |
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From "The Shape of Change." In this lesson, students use connection circles to examine an article about the health risks associated with rising French fry consumption. As in previous lessons, they identify what is changing and describe how it is changing, but in this lesson they begin to think about why it is changing, as they create feedback loops.
Complex Systems Connection: Separate Cause and Effect, Short and Long Term Conflicts. Eating an unhealthy diet may not seem to hurt a person immediately, but it can have long-term negative impacts on overall health. Because we may not feel the effects right away, it can be easy to continue the bad behavior. People eat unhealthy food because it tastes good; it gives them immediate pleasure. Over the long run, however, the effects accumulate, leading to poor overall health. |
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PDF
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