November 1998
Subject: About October's Question
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998
From: Timothy Joy <tjoy@pps.k12.or.us>
To: "K12" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Thanks to all:
Just a quick note to thank all who participated in the thoughtful
Difficulties, Computer Images and the
Ironies of Creativity.
Melinda
Date: Sun, 1 Nov 1998
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu (K-12sd Discussion List)
From: "Jay W. Forrester" <jforestr@MIT.EDU>
Subject: Re: October monthly question
I hope November first is not too late to comment on the October question.
Some of the basic concepts that I would nominate have already been
suggested by others.
1. All activity everywhere occurs within and is controlled by feedback loops.
2. Feedback loops (and therefore all systems) consist of two and only two
concepts--levels (accumulations or stocks) and rates (flows). (The other
equations in the system dynamics software like auxiliaries and converters
are algebraically part of the rates.)
3. Realizing that models are a part of thinking. We all use models for
every decision--our mental models. Formal simulation models help to make
thinking precise, clarify ambiguities, and identify gaps in logical
structure.
4. Visualizing and sketching behavior through time. Seeing behavior as it
unfolds in the real world, and identifying model structures that generate
the same behavior.
5. Identifying the purpose of a model (or of a discussion) and determining
the boundary that includes the things that produce that behavior. One
should think of the closed boundary that contains those relationships that
are essential for creating the behavior of interest.
---------------------------------------------------------
Jay W. Forrester
Professor of Management, Emeritus
and Senior Lecturer, Sloan School
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Room E60-389
Cambridge, MA 02139
tel: 617-253-1571
fax: 617-258-9405
Home office:
tel: 978-369-9372
fax: 978-369-9077
Subject: Summary of the Monthly Question
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 98
From: Timothy Joy <tjoy@pps.k12.or.us>
To: "K-12" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Good Day all:
Some light reading for the days ahead. Many thanks to all for the
wonderful response and thoughtful ideas.
I'll wait until Thursday for November's question--time for you all to read,
digest and respond either to this summary or to specific participants.
Remember, the CLE will also publish the summary.
-----
November 8, 1998
The October Question: What are the three-to-five MOST CRUCIAL,
*BEGINNING* CONCEPTS to focus on when introducing dynamic modeling to
students?
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-Robert Frost
As my son and I raked the broad leaves of our tulip tree into neat piles, I
was meditative, as is usually the case in Fall-a time for considering the
passing solar year, how time permeates the mundane. The leaves turn color,
then fall-slowly at first; then, it seems the tree simply sloughs its
entire foliage in a few days-especially after a strong rain, and now a
handful of leaves hold on. In so short a time, the leaves went from the
tree to the lawn. I was seeing stocks and flows, all the while imagining
pulses and graphs in my head. For a humanist, this was terribly
disconcerting; I'd rather Robert Frost were coursing through my thoughts.
Still, I was attentive to nature in a new way; the systems modeling was
becoming real.
Of the messages people submitted, this notion that modeling replicates the
real was a quiet surprise and gave voice to the recurring ideas of the
month: simplicity, clarity and variety.
Many ancillary ideas surfaced in the postings. I'll mention those ideas at
the end.
SIMPLICITY
Use the simplest structures and a variety of them. It may be a sound idea
to use the computer less than one is inclined to early on, thus allowing
(forcing?) students to work through the seminal ideas at a human, rather
than electronic, pace.
How do we get students to see the most rudimentary pieces of a system; that
is, can they see, as Jay Forrester points out, there are two concepts only:
an accumulation and a rate?
Start with BOT graphs. Students should be able to picture/ to visualize
what they wish to model, have a sense (even if uninformed) of a behavior
they are undertaking to model.
Feedback loops (and therefore all systems)consist of two and only two
concepts-levels (accumulations or stocks) and rates (flows).
Introduce the idea of a system very well, what is and is not, what is
feedback, and working through predictions of "behavior over time" graphs of
various simple examples before getting students onto the computers at all.
Sometimes we get in too much of a hurry to use the modeling tool . . .
before we should. The thought processes should be exercised first.
oVERY simple introductions are possible, if not preferable.
oStudents need to understand basic graph shapes and the stories they tell.
oDefining boundaries of a system: what are you looking at and what the
limits are.
Bath tub model is an excellent starting model owing to its simplicity and
universal simplicity. We can all get this one.
CLARITY
We ought not be surprised that clarity was frequently mentioned, as it
truly is at the core of modeling and systems. But it is more than a
product of this world view; it is a habit of mind. Beyond or as a
consequence of the model building, clarity is ultimately expressed in
language-how we share the model with others; and since our modeling does
inform our understanding, therefore the language we use to speak of a
system, of necessity, must be clear.
What is the purpose of the model and who is the intended audience? This
idea was mentioned in various forms by a number of people. Without these,
as Ed Gallaher mentioned, there is simply no way to know boundaries and
specifics.
Reflecting on the meaning of the model will increase our ability to
articulate assumptions and communicate new insights. This idea occurred
often-to what extent do we ask our students to think about or defend the
model they have created? Many mentioned that this should be occurring at
the earliest time and continue throughout, increasing in complexity as
students build felicity with their explanations.
We ought to develop and practice dialog skills needed when talking about
systems. Use a "Learning Journal": ah-hah's, puzzlements, questions, how
does today's learning apply to tomorrow's responsibility, how can we
increase learning in future sessions? Some of us recently met in Portland
and discussed journals, students maintaining an intellectual record of
their learning and thinking. It is a VERY successful piece in a student's
intellectual journey.
Naming stocks and flows is a significant issue - - vocabulary in relation
to stock - - being able to talk through the story illuminates stocks and
flows for students
Clear Diagrams: self-evident variable names. Careful layout. Smoothly
curving connectors. No spaghetti. If you show your model to another
student, he or she should be able to immediately describe what the model is
attempting to illustrate.
VARIETY
Early on, students should see the multiplicity of systems in their lives,
that systems do not apply only to science or only to mathematics. Even
though there is variety, there is also pattern, what one participant called
"archetypal subsystems. This can be accomplished by working with LOTS of
different examples of simple systems to more complex systems through
large/small group discussion.
We should tell stories-very short stories. Allow students to write, to use
their own language to piece together a whole story. Language is well
suited to describe systems after all. One need only read Tolstoy or
Dickens or Atwood to experience this.
Use manual graphic techniques . . . that provide verbal/mathematical
models. Graphic techniques are easy to grasp and leave little room for
misunderstanding provided one is rigorous in defining terms and use of
different elements.
TWIXT STOCKS AND FLOWS
Deciphering: if we look at the system in an instant in time, i.e., stop
time, what do we have? Stocks have finite amounts . . . and, more
importantly, their units are not given in terms of time.
A stock is noun/subject of the story; the flow is the verb/action that is
taking place.
Context helps reconcile STOCK and FLOW, that the boundaries and time course
are also part of one's knowing the difference.
ON HABITS OF THOUGHT
Translating from a written problem to a stock and knowing the connections
among parts within the system-this compiled from a study within
Maryland-these correlate with success in a systems class. Further,
recognizing patterns and relating two sets of data are qualities of mind
necessary for success. This data suggests broad mental capacities we ought
to engender in our youngest students.
REALITY
Convincing students that dynamic modeling can aid them in understanding
complex situations and arriving at solutions to vexing problems
Students need to recognize behavior as it unfolds in the real world and
identify model structures that generate the same behavior. -Jay Forrester
QUOTABLES
"The more examples the better from several different disciplines, analysis
of local problems, analysis of newspaper articles that represent systemic
problems, analysis of problems or simple systems familiar to the students
in their daily lives."
Teresa Hazel
"My guess is there are some obvious stocks and flows that nobody has
trouble with and some others that raise interesting questions."
George Richardson
"It is important to get across the idea that SD is not just a program that
adds up little bits and pieces(which it does), but that it was developed to
facilitate the study of feedback systems . . . Until we start looking at
(and understanding) feedback processes we might as well be using a
spreadsheet."
Ed Gallaher
"Students must be comfortable sharing their individual assumptions about
the system (perhaps by diagramming or graphing) and allowing their peers to
review/critique/enhance those assumptions . . . written/oral communication
allows the students to internalize and share insights gained through their
work with the dynamic model."
Will Glass-Husain
"All activity everywhere occurs within and is controlled by feedback systems."
"Realize that models are a part of thinking."
Jay Forrester
"Perhaps we should expand "students" to include educators as we learn the
concepts of systems. As we not teaching ourselves?"
Eileen Riley
PARTICIPANTS
Lynne Bernstein, lynne@byramhills.csnet.net
Jay Fogleman, Dakar@aol.com
Jay Forrester, jforestr@MIT.EDU
Ed Gallaher, gallaher@teleport.com
David Gibson, gibsond@quark.vsc.edu
Will Glass-Husain, wglass@powersim.com
Teresa Hazel, teresa@northwest.com
Tim Joy, tjoy@pps.k12..or.us
Jan Mons. Jmons@glynn.k12.ga.us
Niall Palfreyman, Niall.Palfreyman@assyst-intl.com
George Richardson, G.P.Richardson@Albany.edu
Eileen Riley, Yelir9@aol.com
Rolfe Stanley, rstanley@together.net
Richard Turnock, Richard_Turnock@pgn.com
Mary Ellen Verona, mverona@mvhs1.mbhs.edu
From: "Donahue, David" <ddonahue@jaguar.middlebury.edu>
To: "'k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu'" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Introduction
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998
Greetings,
My name is David Donahue and I am an assistant dean at Middlebury College in
Vermont. I have been a teacher and administrator in secondary and middle
schools. I also worked briefly with Andersen Consulting and have some
information technology and process experience. I am looking forward to
learning more about system dynamics and its' growing application in
education.
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998
From: Gordon Kubanek <chust@monisys.ca>
To: K-12sd Discussion List <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: new member in Canada
> Hi there gang,
this is Gordon Kubanek - currently a Chemistry teacher in Ottawa, formerly a
teacher of Physics in Quebec and Pennslyvania and even an Engineer in the
distant
past. I learned about SD this summer while at NORTEL [make telephone switching
systems] and was immediately captivated. I am taking the distance course
from MIT
now and modelling an oscillating clock reaction with my senior chemistry
students. Already system thinking has helped upon my teaching style to new
vistas.
I look forward to future conversations.
Yours,
Gordon Kubanek
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998
From: Niall Palfreyman <Niall.Palfreyman@assyst-intl.com>
To: K-12sd Discussion List <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Summary of the Monthly Question
Timothy Joy wrote:
>
> Some light reading for the days ahead. Many thanks to all for the
> wonderful response and thoughtful ideas.
... and many thanks to you, Tim. I'm still very much a beginner in these
things, and that summary was a huge help to me.
Thank you,
Niall.
PS: YESSS!! I pressed the reply button and the mail automatically went
to the K-12 list. Most satisfactory!
--
We have only the world that we can bring forth
with others, and only love helps us bring it forth.
Dr. Niall Palfreyman mailto:Niall.Palfreyman@assyst-intl.com
assyst GmbH, Henschelring 15a
85551 Kirchheim bei Muenchen Tel: ++49-89-90505-230
Germany. Fax: ++49-89-90505-102/3
From: "John W. Gunkler" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>
To: "'K-12sd Discussion List'" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Ode to Joy
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998
"Alle Menschen ..." -- oops, that Ode to Joy has already been written (by
Ludwig somebody or other), and besides the next word contains an umlaut
which just doesn't come across well in text-based email servers.
I want to thank Timothy Joy for his summary of the monthly question.
In clarity of thought there is poetry.
So, although you claim not to have Robert Frost in your mind, you have
certainly put poetry in mine. I appreciate the care and thoughtfulness, and
poetry, with which you summarized last months' dialogue. It was a welcome
gift.
Subject: November Question
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 98
From: Timothy Joy <tjoy@pps.k12.or.us>
To: "K-12" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Good Day!
My apologies to all for releasing this question on the 11th. Maybe we'll
simply call this the Intermittent Question.
Some reminders about protocol. If you are responding to ideas, please be
certain your 'reply to' is set to the K-12 list so we can all benefit. If
you are a first-time respondent, give us a one or two line bio of what you
teach and what level.
This month's question is actually two questions:
Transferability--the capacity a student has use knowledge from one area in
a completely new area--recently surfaced as a legitimate assessment of
systems' veracity and power. How, then, do we foster transferability?
Second, how do we measure it?
Tim
-----
Timothy Joy
La Salle High School
11999 S. E. Fuller Road
Milwaukie, Oregon 97222
503.659.4155.460 {VOICE}
503/659-2535 {FAX}
tjoy@pps.k12.or.us
"God forbid that truth be confined
to mathematical demonstration."
-William Blake
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998
From: Mike McMillan <mmcm@swbell.net>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: new member from Arkansas
Hello,
This note is to introduce myself to the other members of this group. My
name is Mike McMillan and I am a freelance technical writer and a new
instructor of Computer Science at Pulaski Technical College in North
Little Rock, Arkansas. I have been interested in System Dynamics for
several years now and have read several of the "classic" books in the SD
literature. Now that I am moving into a full-time teaching role I am
delving deeper into SD in an effort to teach its principles to my
students as a part of the design and analysis and programming courses I
teach. I am also wanting to further my SD education because I am hoping
to begin a Master degree in Technology in Education at Lesley College
and I know there is a big SD emphasis in that program.
I am looking forward to some interesting and challenging discussions.
Mike McMillan
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998
From: Gordon Kubanek <chust@monisys.ca>
To: K-12sd Discussion List <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: November Question
K-12sd Discussion List:
Transferability--the capacity a student has use knowledge from one area in a completely new area--recently surfaced as a legitimate assessment of systems' veracity and power. How, then, do we foster transferability? Second, how do we measure it?
1. do lots of news items related to you teaching subject - but emphasize the realationship of the news to the total human experience
2. By HOW you teach - teach to the big picture, to context, to the relationship of yoru subject to the students in front of you.
3. Use models that clearly need input from other fields.
but how do we measure transferibility ???
That is tough.... i am not sure we can in a school setting without changing the structure of the school - entire courses would have to be less subject/content based... tests ? questions that integrate, that require explicit connections between what a student learned in history/english class with , in my case, chemistry - you would have to talk with the other subject teachers & see what they have been studying... and relate the ideas..
yours,
Gordon Kubanek, Ottawa near the North Pole
"God forbid that truth be confined to mathematical demonstration." -William Blake
From: "John W. Gunkler" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>
To: "'K-12sd Discussion List'" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: RE: November Question
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998
Some years ago I co-authored "28 Techniques for transforming training into
performance," Training (magazine), 1985 (April), pp. 48-63 (with Ron Zemke)
on this subject -- transferability.
I won't attempt to summarize everything here. I will say that the basis of
the article was that "transferability" is not something a teacher tacks on
to a lesson but more fundamentally has to do with how the learning/teaching
is done. That is, some ways of helping people learn foster transfer of
skills and others do not. [I assume this is self-evident, but thought it
should be made explicit.]
An observation about the relationship between using system dynamics in the
classroom and transferability. I believe that transfer of generalized
thinking skills is the primary motivation for this endeavor. When an
English literature teacher uses a flow diagram to help teach "Lord of the
Flies" it cannot simply be to teach the book -- it is to teach how to think
about literature in general. How can we make this objective more likely to
occur? That's this month's question.
Here's one way: Teach a competency (e.g., translating a narrative
description into a behavior-over-time graph) in one context, then "test" for
it in another. This can mean using one incident in a novel for teaching and
another incident for testing, or it can mean using an incident in another
novel for testing, or it can mean first a baby step in transfer (same novel)
followed by a bigger step (different novel.)
With that example in mind, one "measure" of amount of transfer can be
understood. What you measure is performance on the "transfer task"
multiplied by the "distance" the transfer task is from the learning task.
This gets a little tricky, but not too bad. Distance is measured by
determining several dimensions (factors) by which tasks can differ. For
instance, in our example, we might choose the dimensions: author, reading
difficulty, plot (or incident) complexity, and commonality (with students'
own experiences.) The "author" dimension might simply be your best
subjective judgment about how differently two authors write -- perhaps one
could create a "scale" (draw a horizontal line) and begin placing authors'
names along the line, putting those who are more similar closer together and
those who are more different farther apart. Then measure any two authors by
their (physical) distance apart on this line.
The total "distance" of the transfer task from the learning task can be a
simple sum of the differences on each dimension. Or you could get fancier
by giving an importance weight to each dimension and measuring "distance" by
taking a weighted average of the dimensional differences.
John W. Gunkler
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu (K-12sd Discussion List)
From: Ed Gallaher <gallaher@teleport.com>
Subject: Re: November Question - transferability
How to introduce the concept of transferability:
The first concept that needs to be presented to students is the concept of
transferability itself. i.e. -tell them- that the model that is being
developed will have applications in many other areas!
The concept of "generic thinking" is not generally accepted or recognized
in our "disciplined" educational system (and our "disciplined" minds). We
generally stop thinking about math when we walk into the history classroom,
and we stop thinking of history when we walk into the chemistry classroom.
(At the ST/SD meeting in Concord several years ago, Lees Stuntz commented
"Never underestimate man's ability to compartmentalize." (!))
The Rain Barrel model describes a linear input and exponential output. The
sooner the student realizes that this model can be applied to other
situations, the better. Examples include: (i) charging and discharging an
electrical capacitor, (ii) intravenous drug infusions (or multiple
injections, equivalent to buckets poured into the rain barrel), and (iii)
the flushing of pesticides from a river/reservoir system (with its
attendant economic/political implications).
If a second generic model is then presented, and it is again pointed out
that to students that this model can be applied across many disciplines,
the students should start to generalize the "transferability" concept.
Once this has been accomplished, students should be asked to look around
them, in the newspaper, etc. for additional examples for each new model
structure they encounter.
Evaluation:
This is a much tougher question! I continue to have problems trying to
"prove" that SD is advantageous, when it seems so intuitively obvious. How
does one "prove" something to an audience does not understand the
conceptual framework that is required to prove it?
I'll have to leave this one to the educational researchers and theorists.
In the meantime, I KNOW it works!
Ed Gallaher
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu (K-12sd Discussion List)
From: "Janice C. Kowalczyk" <kowalcjn@ride.ri.net>
Subject: Re: November Question
I am enjoying listening in to the discussions and love the monthly
questions...Life has been so busy lately I do however find that I have not
had time to give any adequate response of my own...hopefully one day that
will change.....
In the meantime, I just wanted to add an inadequate response to the
November question ...you could say my two cents worth.
Transferability--the capacity a student has use knowledge from one area in
a completely new area
Hmmm...Somewhere from my undergraduate education lies an idea deeply
engraved and that is "if you want transfer you have to teach for transfer.
"
This is an idea that has stuck with me all my adult life.....in both
teaching and in child raising (which is teaching afterall). I think one
of the things that excites me so much about Systems in education is the
opportunity it affords us all to "teach for transfer". For what it is
worth...those are my two short cents...
Janice C. Kowalczyk
Educational Math Specialist, Rutgers University
"We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as
insolvable problems"
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 12:09:28 +0100
From: Niall Palfreyman <Niall.Palfreyman@assyst-intl.com>
To: K-12sd Discussion List <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: November Question
Gordon Kubanek wrote:
> but how do we measure transferibility ???
Something I love doing is using metaphor and storytelling in teaching,
and to my mind both presuppose an ability to transfer knowledge from one
domain to another. One game I sometimes play with my children is to tell
a little story starting with a sentence like: "If Mummy were a fish, she
would ...". This exercises the transfer of actions from Mummy to fish,
and also provides some indication of how easy they find it to do. Of
course, in a school setting you'd have to be sure that the subjects of
the story weren't going to be slandered by the story, so maybe you could
use famous people instead.
Niall.
--
We have only the world that we can bring forth
with others, and only love helps us bring it forth.
Dr. Niall Palfreyman mailto:Niall.Palfreyman@assyst-intl.com
assyst GmbH, Henschelring 15a
85551 Kirchheim bei Muenchen Tel: ++49-89-90505-230
Germany. Fax: ++49-89-90505-102/3
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998
From: Gordon Kubanek <chust@monisys.ca>
To: k-12sd Discussion List <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: November Question - with a fairy tale twist
transferibility;
in chemistry class i am having the students make up solutions that are an
"oscillating clock reaction', and then of course model it using VENSIM.....
t
hey do this in front of the other students,
and then i tell a "fairy tale" which is a perfect simile of the how this
field of
chemistry was at first NOT accepted by chemists because [according to their
theories] it could NOT happen...
once upon a time there was a frog who could fly [using the breaststroke]
none of the other frogs believed him so one day he said that he would show them
by jumping off the highest tree in the forest.
they all came - mostly because they really wanted to watch the spectacle of his
failure or just to "be seen"..... our flying frog came... climbed up the tree,
jumped and then started doing the breast-stroke and thus flying across the sky.
the other frogs were stunned.... they looked at him flying, then at each others
and said en masse:
"frogs can't fly" and they all walked away.
are we not like this ?
it really happened when oscillatin clock reaction were first discovered....
yours,
gordon kubanek
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
From: teresa@northwest.com
Subject: November Question
My response to this question (at least the first part of it) would parallel
my answer to the previous question of the month.
Again, I think that when introducing systems thinking to students, the
greater variety of real world examples the better. From the beginning,
students are thus encouraged to apply the concept of a system to many
situations.
As teachers we are all aware that the way we teach something the first time
is generally what sticks in kids' minds.....it is much harder to undo
previous learning.
It would seem that if they see many interdisciplinary examples of systems
thinking and problem solving from the very beginning from that perspective
that transferability would hopefully be inherant. I think that we need to
be careful in trying to make the systems approach always fit something we
already teach in our compartmentalized curriculum. Although it has helped
me to teach particular concepts better and to greater depth of
understanding, it is a great tool for this, but I am forever wishing I
could dump some of my required curriculum and focus on interdisciplinary
teaching from a systems approach.
As for evaluation, this is difficult, that is if you want to make it
clearly evident on some type of test
(which is what we are forced to do) that kids learn more with a systems
approach. To evaluate whether greater learning occurs by a particular
teaching/learning approach, we need to have the freedom and flexibility to
to test in the same way that the students learned. You can't truly
evaluate the depth of students thinking with standardized multiple choice
questions. Perhaps if we could just record the conversations we hear when
students work as teams to solve a problem using systems thinking that would
be enough to tell us and to convince others that they are truly learning.
Teresa Hazel
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1998
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu (k-12sd Discussion List)
From: Bob Gorman <bgorman@kncell.org>
Subject: Transferability - Power technique!
How to introduce the concept of transferability: Here's what I do: 1. At
the beginning of many of my courses, I have the students do a mind-map of
what they know, or think they know about the subject. This gives me an idea
of what level they are at and also flushes out possible mis-conceptions
that will have to be addresses during the course. Sometimes those
mis-conceptions are due to loose analogies or transfers. 2. At the end of
the course:
A. I have them do a second mind-map. This visibly shows progress both in
terms of new terms, concepts, principles etc. learned and also
mis-conceptions clarified. B. I ask them to find other area where the
ideas, concepts or processes might apply. This direct request for
transferability seems to work well. If a particular group, or individual
comes up with nothing, give them a few of your own for starters.
C. After, and only after, they come up with a few areas of transferability,
try this question: "Where would this idea, technique, etc. NOT apply?". It
often evokes wondrous responses! Why, I'm not exactly sure. Apparently the
mind come up with "It couldn't apply to X, but then starts to think about
it and realizes, perhaps it could. Then it goes further, with "It couldn't
possibly apply to Y, but then starts to think about it and realizes,
perhaps it also could. This goes on till the class is over or the janitor
turns off the light in the building.... Bob "To get NEW Answers, you must
ask NEW Questions!" - Bob Gorman
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1998
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu (k-12sd Discussion List)
From: Bob Gorman <bgorman@kncell.org>
Subject: Proving ideas...
At 11/20/98 04:43 PM -0400, Ed Gallaher wrote: >I continue to have
problems trying to "prove" that SD is advantageous, >when it seems so
intuitively obvious. How does one "prove" something to >an audience does
not understand the conceptual framework that is >required to prove it?
I've only found one way to work, they must 1st "experience" it. If a person
has never experienced "serenity", you cannot prove, cognitively that it is
a worthwhile experience. They have to experience it 1st hand, not read
about it, before any meaningful dialogue can begin. I enjoy soaring or
gliding, i.e. flying planes without engines. I cannot with a million words
on paper prove to you it's fun, exhilarating and relaxing. I can only try,
with personal persuasion to convince you to take that leap of faith
necessary to try it for the first time. Then we can talk about it! The same
is true about the "AHA" experience of knowledge transfer! Give them the
first few rides for free, and they will be hooked for life. Bob "To get
NEW Answers, you must ask NEW Questions!" - Bob Gorman
End of November 1998
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