simulations

Restaurant Management is a single player game that teaches the dynamic behavior behind managing a restaurant. Players will gain an understanding of why the managing decisions they make influence a restaurant’s reputation and the money earned, an understanding of why and how the decisions of others can serve as a benchmark and be helpful when making your own decisions, and that it can take time before you see the results of your decisions.

Hunting Season is a combined single and multiplayer game that teaches the dynamic behavior behind the Tragedy of the Commons. Designed with systems thinking in mind, the game is split into a single-player game focusing on environmental stewardship and a multi-player game that adds a competitive component. 

See what happens over time to one’s Blood Alcohol Concentration (or BAC) following the consumption of alcohol. This “system” involves three stages or flows: alcohol first enters the stomach, then is absorbed into the body, and finally is expelled. Each stage involves different amounts of time that are influenced by a number of personal characteristics. 

This lesson with accompanying simulation is loosely based on an experiment that was conducted at Stanford University in 1971. Phillip Zimbardo wanted to see how typical people would act if they were asked to take on roles of prisoners and prison guards for a two-week period. The experiment was stopped after only six days because of escalating, abusive behavior of the guards and concerns about the well-being of the prisoners. In the simulation, students take on the role of a social scientist, trying to understand how a similar situation (with guards having complete control over prisoners) can create specific human responses, such as fear, repression, and resistance. They can then compare this situation to a host of other similar situations, fictional or real. 

FishBanks is an online multi-user simulation to explore the management of a marine fishery. The simulation, created through MIT, is available for educators to use at no cost.  Students experience the difficulties of managing a renewable resource, seeing how short-term goals can interfere with long-term success.  Each student team makes decisions with a goal of creating success for a fishing company. The tendency is for teams to overfish, not realizing the long-term problem until it’s too late to reverse the diminished fish population in time to save the fish or their companies from bankruptcy.