November 1999
From: "Jean-Louis Cordonnier" <jlcord@wanadoo.fr>
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Irreversibility
Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999
Hi everybody.
I liked the discussion about negative values. Maybe the focus point is "Do I
want a model behavior that fit to the reality behavior or is that not enough
: must the model strictly match to the reality itself ?"
I cannot find the "good" way to make a model about blossom :
After a delay of cold weather (delay = 1 or 2 months), the buds turn on
their ability to make flowers. It's only when the days are longer than x
hours (it depends on species) that the trees will blossom. Once the blossom
capacity is turned on, it cannot then be turned off (before summer time).
This explains why very bad (and cold weather) during early Autumn may cause
blossom, too.
How must I write this irreversible switch. I wish a model which match
properly to the reality ! not only something that works...
Cordialement
Jean-Louis CORDONNIER
36, rue Lavisse
PERPIGNAN (FRANCE)
jlcord@wanadoo.fr
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: KCStarguy@aol.com
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999
Subject: ideas
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu, peterk@mail.7oaks.org
Using technology in general can be used to encourage underachieving and other
students to increase their learning potential.
As I do with my nasa and sim courses, proejcts and camps, the teacher needs
to include the following to round out the process
(1) Metacognitive journaling so that students relate and think about what
they are learning (this can be done with special E.J.A.W.s- (Explorers,
Judges, Artists and Warriors) that I invented , or you can use webpages for
journaling. Journalism on line must be first done off the computer in writing
or with my sheets, so when they sit down they don't say- "I don't know what
to write." Also if they are journaling warn the students not change colors,
fonts, sizes of fonts etc until the content is down otherwise they get caught
up in these other things instead of the real deal.
(2) using other methods to take notes while reading internet based
information (webbing, concept mapping which I have adapted for them to fill
out as they read various sites on the internet and perform tasks.
(3) work in graphics and using them to highlight visual based learning and
exploration
(4) filling out online feedback forms
(5) testing them in sequences to follow instructions and follow directions
while doing tasks
(6) providing some time to pick and choose different sites to visit while
document their learning
(7) using lab activities to complement all of above
I don't have all the all the answers. Comments, questions, ideas.
Dr. Eric Flescher (KCStarguy@aol.com)
The word 'engage' is what Jean Luc Picard says for the Enterprise to go
somewhere- it should not be used to indicate what students are learning with
computers and technology
Project S.I.M. (Simulations, Interdisciplinary internet and Metacognitive
activities
Project A.S.S.E.T. (Adopt a School, Space, Earth quadraT)
MacsU.N.I.T.E.- MacIntosh Users Network for Integrating TEchnology Into
Education to subscribe send email to macsunite-subscribe@egroups.com
Editor, TechU.N.I.T.E.- Technology Users Network for Integrating TEchnology
Into Education to subscribe send email to techunite-subscribe@egroups.com
In a message dated 10/15/99 10:25:14 AM, k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu writes:
<<
I did meet with a lad who was in trouble lately(grade 5) and suggested that
we spend some time on the net together, perhaps looking for a way to posit
some questions about lack of engagement, kids who don't like school, kids
who are "cool", kids who don't like their teacher, etc. We talked about
this in terms of using the net as a tool to increase knowledge. If he were
to be able to talk with kids who had some of the same challenges as he has,
they might be able to help each other and thereby contribute to the general
welfare of kids. Because I am not aware of this ever happening before, he
and I would enter into the endeavour as an adventure in learning. This is
the kind of thing that I find fascinating. I'm not sure how system dynamics
enters into the discussion. If you or others have thoughts about this or
the way that I am entering into this process with this young lad, I would
welcome thoughts.
PeterKrahn (Vice Principal-Riverbend Community School- in Winnipeg, Canada)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999
From: Mary Ellen Verona <mverona@mvhs1.mbhs.edu>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Teaching Systems Thinking
The problem is that there is so much you can assess depending on what you
are emphasizing in teaching ST or SD. Are kids building their own models,
investigating models and extending them, using models to learn about
content?
At MVHS we are assessing two small areas with paper and pencil quizes for
all of our modeling implementation (64 teachers, implementing about 4
models each).
1) Do students understand the graphical representation of data - STELLA
output graphs?
2) Do students understand how the model is like the real world and how it
is different than the real world? (very open ended)
Right now sitting in our office we have at least 20 sets of student
papers. We have generic rubrics and are creating scoring tools for each
content area. We have some other things in the works for a more in depth
assessment. I also have some references that I can send when I dig them
up.
Mary Ellen Verona
mverona@mvhs1.mbhs.edu
***** new address ******
Maryland Virtual High School
Montgomery Blair High School
51 East University Boulevard
Silver Spring, MD 20901
301-649-2880
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: teresa@northwest.com
Subject: Re: Teaching Systems Thinking
I too have the same questions. I am writing a Masters proposal for an
Action Research project based on using ST/SD as the foundation for teaching
Integrated Science. The difficult part of this proposal is how to assess
and document students' learning gains. I need to specifically address this
in my proposal.
Teresa
-----------------
At 02:42 PM 10/29/99 -0400, you wrote:
>From: "Martin Clough" <M.L.Clough-95@student.lboro.ac.uk>
>To: <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
>Subject: Teaching Systems Thinking
>Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 16:46:44 -0700
>
>To all interested k-12 list users,
>
>Could anybody advise on what criteria is measured when examining techniques
>for teaching systems thinking.
>How is it known that the methods of teaching SD and ST are doing the job
>they are supposed to?
>
>Also, has anybody conducted any empirical work on methods of teaching ST and
>if so what methodologies were used?
>
>Thankyou,
>Martin Clough.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Dan Barcan <dbarcan@cpcs.chtr.k12.ma.us>
To: 'k-12sd' <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Help!
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999
I am trying to build a Stella model which shows the system created by
trying to balance a meter stick vertically on your hand. Steve Kipp has
distributed some curriculum which uses this demonstration to create a
balancing loop sketch. The Systems Thinking Playbook has a similar
activity. My biggest cause for confusion in building the model is how
to incorporate "time" - i.e., the effect of the delay between the
stick's tipping over and your seeing it so you can adjust the position
of your hand. I can't get the stick to oscillate in position - it just
falls over. What am I doing wrong?
Dan Barcan
Chelmsford Public Charter School
From: KCStarguy@aol.com
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999
Subject: Re: Even Simpler models with unexpected or puzzling dynamics
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu, jmons@glynn.k12.ga.us
This (below ) is some of the main problems going on in math in general.
[ In a message dated 10/12/99 4:32:47 PM, k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu writes:
<< As a former eighth grade math teacher I constantly struggled with
>trying to get my students to solve application problems (I refuse to use
>the phrase ìword problemsî). The difficulty was that their understanding
>of the basic skills in math was so weak that I spent more time on those
>than on the great applications problems. >>]
Can you or anyone share some basic lessons to use with middle schol and
elementary students?
[I am actually
>doing some of the same SD activities with second graders that I am also
>doing with sixth graders. Both are new to the skills and concepts.
> No matter what ìsimpleî model I use, my question is what skill,
>concept, and basic understanding of System Dynamics will the
>model/activity build deeper understanding in for myself and my students.
>In addition, of course, to an increased understanding of the particular
>system we are discussing]
Did you find the following?
[Last fall Tim Joy facilitated a great discussion on this list serve
>about where to start and five basic concepts]
I am interesting in devising system dynamics lessons to use with my NASA
SPACE PROject and sim project but am searching for ways to introduce the
concepts of SD by using stella. Any help appreciated
Dr. Eric Flescher (KCStarguy@aol.com)
Project S.I.M. (Simulations, Interdisciplinary internet and Metacognitive
activities Project A.S.S.E.T. (Adopt a School, Space, Earth quadraT)
Editor, MacsU.N.I.T.E.- MacIntosh Users Network for Integrating TEchnology
Into Education to subscribe send email to
macsunite-subscribe@egroups.comemail to techunite-subscribe@egroups.com
The word 'engage' is what Jean Luc Picard says for the Enterprise to go
somewhere- it should not be used to indicate what students are learning with
computers and technology
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 01 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: teresa@northwest.com
Subject: Re: Even Simpler models with unexpected or puzzling dynamics
I don't really have any basic lessons to share but more of a philosophy.
In teaching high school students in Chemistry and Physics, their
shortcomings in those courses always seems to relate to their lack of
experience and practice with "word problems" (even though you say you don't
like this term). When I asked their math teachers about this the response
was "we assign some word problems but those are always the ones they can't
or won't spend much time on so I always have to solve them in class for
them". It seems to be a lack of perseverance OR perhaps that way math is
traditionally taught. It seems that if we inverted the traditional method
of (teaching isolated skills, giving them problems to practice with no
context, then MAYBE giving them a set of word problems last) and INSTEAD
began with the context and introduced the basic skills as a "need to know"
approach to solve the problems in their context, then the applications may
more likely become second nature. I have encounted many a math student who
claims to be a "good math student" who can't do much else other than follow
patterns in solving noncontextual algorithms with a model in front of them.
Again, not much help to you but just philosophizing.
At 12:26 PM 11/1/99 -0500, you wrote:
>From: KCStarguy@aol.com
>Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 14:50:11 EST
>Subject: Re: Even Simpler models with unexpected or puzzling dynamics
>To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu, jmons@glynn.k12.ga.us
>
>
>This (below ) is some of the main problems going on in math in general.
>
>[ In a message dated 10/12/99 4:32:47 PM, k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu writes:
><< As a former eighth grade math teacher I constantly struggled with
>>trying to get my students to solve application problems (I refuse to use
>>the phrase ìword problemsî). The difficulty was that their understanding
>>of the basic skills in math was so weak that I spent more time on those
>>than on the great applications problems. >>]
>
>Can you or anyone share some basic lessons to use with middle schol and
>elementary students?
>
>[I am actually
>
>>doing some of the same SD activities with second graders that I am also
>>doing with sixth graders. Both are new to the skills and concepts.
>> No matter what ìsimpleî model I use, my question is what skill,
>>concept, and basic understanding of System Dynamics will the
>>model/activity build deeper understanding in for myself and my students.
>>In addition, of course, to an increased understanding of the particular
>>system we are discussing]
>
>Did you find the following?
>
>[Last fall Tim Joy facilitated a great discussion on this list serve
>>about where to start and five basic concepts]
>
>I am interesting in devising system dynamics lessons to use with my NASA
>SPACE PROject and sim project but am searching for ways to introduce the
>concepts of SD by using stella. Any help appreciated
>
> Dr. Eric Flescher (KCStarguy@aol.com)
>Project S.I.M. (Simulations, Interdisciplinary internet and Metacognitive
>activities Project A.S.S.E.T. (Adopt a School, Space, Earth quadraT)
> Editor, MacsU.N.I.T.E.- MacIntosh Users Network for Integrating TEchnology
>Into Education to subscribe send email to
>macsunite-subscribe@egroups.comemail to techunite-subscribe@egroups.com
>
>The word 'engage' is what Jean Luc Picard says for the Enterprise to go
>somewhere- it should not be used to indicate what students are learning with
>computers and technology
xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: Ed Gallaher <gallaher@mail.teleport.com>
Subject: Re: Irreversibility
>Hi everybody.
>
>I liked the discussion about negative values. Maybe the focus point is "Do I
>want a model behavior that fit to the reality behavior or is that not enough
>: must the model strictly match to the reality itself ?"
>
>I cannot find the "good" way to make a model about blossom :
>After a delay of cold weather (delay = 1 or 2 months), the buds turn on
>their ability to make flowers. It's only when the days are longer than x
>hours (it depends on species) that the trees will blossom. Once the blossom
>capacity is turned on, it cannot then be turned off (before summer time).
>This explains why very bad (and cold weather) during early Autumn may cause
>blossom, too.
>How must I write this irreversible switch. I wish a model which match
>properly to the reality ! not only something that works...
>Jean-Louis CORDONNIER
I think this is a very important question! And Jean-Louis should be
commended for trying to match reality rather than simply the appearance of
reality.
It gets at the heart of "correct" SD modeling and simulation, and I hope
some of our leaders will continue to illuminate us (George, Nelson . . . )
When I build or use any SD models, but particularly in my field of biology
and medicine, I am trying to understand the "true" structure and function
of the underlying system (to the extent this is possible). Therefore,
algorithm tricks (such as if-then statements) that mimic the output
behavior should be avoided at all costs. They may illustrate the behavior,
but they cannot accuarately illustrate the biology.
In the current example I believe there is some very interesting biology
that may be being overlooked!
What I believe is really happening within the plant is something like this:
(Keep in mind this is -pure fiction-! I am making all this up for the sake
of argument, [although I'm making it up based upon years of biochemistry,
physiology, and pharmacology experience]).
The plant really does not have ON-OFF switches! What it does have is a
biochemical system which requires a certain amount of various hormones (or
growth factors, or biochemical raw materials) in order to flower. In
either case, these are -stocks- which would accumulate over time.
Let's imagine two hormones FF (flowering), and NF (not flowering).
FF is required for flowering, but NF either prevents its synthesis, or
blocks its activity. In any event, if NF is present there will be no
flowers.
FF is synthesized reasonably quickly. It remains active until NF turns it off.
NF is synthesized and decays more slowly.
During and after the normal flowering season, NF begins to accumulate,
preventing further flowering. NF only begins to decay during cold weather.
It decays slowly, so one week of cold weather is not good enough; it
requires a month of two.
Next, we get a warm spell. Little or no NF is present, so FF begins to
accumulate, turning on the flowering process. This may look like a
"switch", but it really is an accumulation of enough FF to trigger
flowering. Now it gets cold again. FF remains, and there is no NF to turn
it off.
Mother Nature has "tricked" the plant into thinking it is at a different
time of the growing season. This can be catastrophic under certain
conditions, as fruit is set on the plant too early and then dies with the
next frost.
Again, I am not a plant physiologist, and cannot provide the specifics. But
I would guess that if J-L could find an appropriate advisor that this
interesting behavior could be modeled realistically with just a few
relevant stocks.
I'd certainly welcome comments and critiques of this analysis.
Ed Gallaher, Ph.D.
Assoc. Prof.
Behavioral Neuroscience and Physiology-Pharmacology
Oregon Health Sciences University
Portland, OR
USA
Xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 01 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: Stuart Kermes <skermes@eastconn.org>
Subject: Re: Teaching Systems Thinking
Teresa and Martin,
I share your concern around assessment. After wrestling with this for
awhile my conclusion is that assessing systems thinking itself is not the
point. ST/SD is a tool to help our students and ourselves to think more
deeply about the various problems that we encounter in science, literature
and social studies. To the extent that ST/SD increases students grasp of
the concepts and knowledge in those areas in contrast to other methods, is
the extent of the "value-added" of the approach. My own approach these
days is to embed ST/SD into the ongoing assessments in each subject-area.
That usually means including "demonstrates an understanding of the dynamics
of the system" in a grading rubric along with other content elements. If
you are in a district where there are a few pioneers teaching systems,
there are probably so control groups available to do comparisons with if
you can overcome the political hurdles.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) most of the content standards that have
been developed over the past 10 to 12 years have not included much more
than lip service to the concept of systems as we here tend to think of it.
This means that we could develop a nice set of assessments and the response
of alot of educators would be "so what" since this stuff is not what is
showing up on the state tests.
At 12:26 PM 11/1/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 18:17:19 -0700
>To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
>From: teresa@northwest.com
>Subject: Re: Teaching Systems Thinking
>
>I too have the same questions. I am writing a Masters proposal for an
>Action Research project based on using ST/SD as the foundation for teaching
>Integrated Science. The difficult part of this proposal is how to assess
>and document students' learning gains. I need to specifically address this
>in my proposal.
>
>Teresa
>-----------------
>At 02:42 PM 10/29/99 -0400, you wrote:
>>From: "Martin Clough" <M.L.Clough-95@student.lboro.ac.uk>
>>To: <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
>>Subject: Teaching Systems Thinking
>>Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 16:46:44 -0700
>>
>>To all interested k-12 list users,
>>
>>Could anybody advise on what criteria is measured when examining techniques
>>for teaching systems thinking.
>>How is it known that the methods of teaching SD and ST are doing the job
>>they are supposed to?
>>
>>Also, has anybody conducted any empirical work on methods of teaching ST and
>>if so what methodologies were used?
>>
>>Thankyou,
>>Martin Clough.
>
Stuart Kermes
Manager, Planning and Program Development
EASTCONN
376 Hartford Turnpike
Hampton, CT. 06247
Phone:(860)455-0707
Fax: (860)455-0691
email: skermes@eastconn.org
xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 01 Nov 1999
From: William Costello <WILL@cvumail.cvu.cssd.k12.vt.us>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Help! -Reply
Dan,
I am not sure how you have constructed the model but when the actual
physical event is conducted the oscillation is caused by the shifting
balance point thus changing the ratio of sides (lengths either side of the
meter stick) and causing a resultant "moment". This creates torque and
results in rotation "downward" on the side with the greatest mass
(hence greatest gravitational force). It is a complicated model but can be
most easliy built by building the static model first (torque is balanced =
mass on either side of balance point is identical = same length of meter
stick on either side (assuming uniform density)). Then you can shift the
balance point in a fixed pattern, later intruducing a random function. The
time aspect comes into play in the rate at which you change the position
of the pivot. This is a challenging modeling exercise! I can provide
detailed help over e-mail or if you have time we can look at it after our
meeting next week.
regards,
will
Xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999
From: G P Richardson <gpr@csc.albany.edu>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Help!
On Mon, 1 Nov 1999, k-12sd wrote:
> I am trying to build a Stella model which shows the system created by
> trying to balance a meter stick vertically on your hand.
> My biggest cause for confusion in building the model is how
> to incorporate "time" - i.e., the effect of the delay between the
> stick's tipping over and your seeing it so you can adjust the position
> of your hand. I can't get the stick to oscillate in position - it just
> falls over. What am I doing wrong?
The perception delay would probably be modeled simply as a SMOOTH of
whatever is being perceived -- the angle from vertical, the displacement
of the top of the stick from verticle, or whatever -- with the perception
time being the time constant of the SMOOTH.
But it seems that such a perception time is negligible, virtually
instantaneous. I doubt the perception delay is the structure responsible
for "oscillations."
It would seem more reasonable that the perpetual movement required by the
hand to maintain the balance is due to one's inability to find and
maintain the perfect spot for the hand (the bottom of the stick) that
balances the stick. That spot would be directly under the center of
gravity of the stick. We probably can't find that exact spot with our
hand, and we can't keep our hand there perfectly even if we manage to
stumble across it by accident.
I don't know how you are going about modeling this, but I'd start by
restricting the motion to one dimension -- imagine the stick being limited
to tipping either right or left but not backwards and forwards. Then the
hand motion to balance the stick would be left and right, essentially
along a number line. I'd make the position of the hand (the bottom of the
stick) a stock; I'd make the angular displacement of the stick another
stock; I'd make the angular momentum of the stick a third stock.
If the hand position stays fixed, the model then actually looks like a
"stiff" pendulum; one needs to pull out sines and cosines to model the
forces on the center of gravity of the stick, but it's essentially just a
pendulum upside down, with a "stiff string." I hope it's clear from there
on.
One has the interesting problem of modeling the "policy" the subject uses
to control the position of her hand. That's the rate of change of the
stock representing the x-coordinate of the hand position. Is it
negatively proportional to the displacement of the tip? ...displacement
of the center of gravity? What do people actually do? I'm pretty sure
that such "proportional" control would not be enough to balance the stick
-- we could imagine the stick at a steady-state tilt held in place off
balance by a constant motion (or would it be constant acceleration?) of
the hand in one direction to keep the stick up.
So the hand position policy is tough. I could write more about this, but
maybe I've said enough to get you going or to convince you this is a lot
harder to model than to do.
...GPR
xxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1999
From: "RICHARD TURNOCK" <Richard_Turnock@pgn.com>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Teaching Systems Thinking
Re: John Gunkler's comments
So, is this process? Based on what you said:
State intended outcomes
Determine criteria for measuring outcomes
Implement teaching using ST/SD tools
Students learn ST/SD tools
Students use ST/SD tools to learn content
Measure results of learning content using traditional methods
Compare results to intended outcomes using criteria
richard_turnock@pgn.com
Educational Services
503-464-8503
xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999
From: Niall Palfreyman <Niall.Palfreyman@assyst-intl.com>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Life is a series of "word problems"!
Ed Gallaher wrote:
> "Word Problems" are real life!
I agree, but with a caveat. I'm involved in creating a tool to assist
marker-makers in the garment industry with their work, which is a very
visually and kinaesthetically oriented skill. These people are absolute
geniuses, solving systemic problems every day which a computer wouldn't
have a chance in hell of coping with. Yet they typically would not come
across in conversation as particularly bright, simply because they often
have difficulty putting their thoughts and actions into words. Their
problem-solving skills often seem to be practised almost totally without
the use of words. I think the term I would rather use to express what
they do is "narrative": they engage in a narrative with each other and
with the problem they are solving, in which they exchange experiences
and add to those experiences in the light of the new problem. So I guess
I'd paraphrase you as follows:
"Narrative problems" are real life.
What's important is not so much the words as the narrative which
underlies those words, and for me the wonderful thing about SD is that
it provides a non-verbal medium within which people can express their
problem-solving narratives without necessarily having to find words for
what they are doing.
Best wishes,
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
Xxxxxxxxx
From: "Kai Berendes" <berendes@wiwi.uni-mainz.de>
To: <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Introduction
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999
Dear K-12 group,
as more as passive participants in your discussions(since a half year) now
we like to introduce ourselves. We are a small group located at the
University of Mainz in Germany working in research program of the German
Science Foundation (DFG). Our project contains the field of SD based
modelling and simulations in vocational training mainly in business subject
matters (i.e. "office clark").
We have two different approaches. One is that students explore (structure
and behaviour) given models. In the other one students build models to basic
business cases like inventory or personal development on their own. During
the modelling we protocolling the process in different time steps with saved
files of the model and work-sheets filled by the students.
In this context we like to (re)start the dialogue about the measurement and
evaluation about those learning activities.
We are looking forward for exploring and sharing ideas together.
Best regards,
Stefanie & Kai
xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999
Subject: Re: Help!
From: "Gibson" <dgibson@vismt.org>
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
My biggest cause for confusion in building the model is how >to incorporate "time" - i.e., the effect of the delay between the >stick's tipping over and your seeing it
Could you attach your model...or even just a PICT of the map? Maybe a conveyor belt accumulator. Maybe a delay loop or factor. Time is already running in every model in STELLA, isn't it? Maybe the integration factor in the time specs... wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw David Gibson
xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999
Subject: Re: Teaching Systems Thinking -Reply
From: "Gibson" <dgibson@vismt.org>
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
How do we go about establishing a mechanism for "viewing" their results as a reflection upon our using SD as a teaching tool?
Will, Martin Gardner's work on the transfer of music to mathematics (and vice versa) has some interesting methodology. He uses traditional measures such as achievement tests, stratifies the treatment and non-treatment groups, and has repeatedly found effects of transfer that I suspect bear out the general trend that Elizabeth Cohen, Newmann and Wehlage, and others have indicated - that "elaborated communication", or "talking and working together," or in the case of music, "highly motivating creative inquiry and expression" underlie the results. I think STELLA-like work is or can be of that type. wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw David Gibson
Xxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: Ed Gallaher <gallaher@mail.teleport.com>
Subject: Life is a series of "word problems"!
>Date: Mon, 01 Nov 1999 23:53:38 -0800
>To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
>From: teresa@northwest.com
>Subject: Re: Even Simpler models with unexpected or puzzling dynamics
>
>I don't really have any basic lessons to share but more of a philosophy.
>In teaching high school students in Chemistry and Physics, their
>shortcomings in those courses always seems to relate to their lack of
>experience and practice with "word problems" (even though you say you don't
>like this term).
We never sit at the gas station trying to solve the problem, "204/17.2".
What happens is we drive 204 miles, then we stop and buy 17.2 gallons of
gas, and we want to know what our gas mileage is. We thus have to solve a
"word problem".
One suggestion to get students past their reluctance is to ask them to make
up three originla word problems which illustrate the mathematical concept
under investigation. This can then be shared with other students. Part of
the grade depends upon their ability to develop relevant questions.
"Word Problems" are real life!
Ed Gallaher
xxxxxxxxxxx
From: j.seward@sbu.ac.uk
Date: Wed, 3 Nov 1999
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Even Simpler models with unexpected or puzzling dynamics
I think I understand the point here (UK) We have similar problems.
We encourage the students to express themselves using their own
words. When the meaning is clear, then we introduce the specific or
technical vocabulary. The situation is then expressed with the "new"
vocabulary. usually the new expression is clearer in less time
Sometimes the technical vocabulary still needs explanation.
But the scientific point has invariably been the better explained and
understood - and retained. All are somehow "rewarded"..
John Seward
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999
From: Niall Palfreyman <Niall.Palfreyman@assyst-intl.com>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Irreversibility
Ed Gallaher wrote:
> When I build or use any SD models, but particularly in my field of
> biology and medicine, I am trying to understand the "true" structure
> and function of the underlying system (to the extent this is
> possible). Therefore, algorithm tricks (such as if-then statements)
> that mimic the output behavior should be avoided at all costs...
> The plant really does not have ON-OFF switches! ...
> This may look like a "switch", but it really is an accumulation of
> enough FF to trigger flowering....
Thank you for your analysis, Ed. I really enjoyed following it.
I do have one issue to take with it, and that's the point about
switches. I should say immediately that I know nothing about if-then
statements in SD, so it may well be that such tricks are as
reprehensible as you suggest. However I'm not sure that your analysis
gets rid of the need for them.
First of all, at the molecular level there definitely _are_ operations
which I would call switches. Codons in the DNA possess regulatory
regions which switch the codon on or off under a variety of complicated
Boolean conditions which depend upon the various hormones, peptides and
growth factors in the local environment. Hormone molecules dock onto the
regulatory region and produce an all-or-nothing switching in the
activity of the codon. And in the light of what follows I should say
that for me all-or-nothing behaviour is the defining characteristic of
anything we might call a switch.
Secondly, I'm not sure that your analysis doesn't itself contain an
implicit switch. Does the activity of the FF hormone disappear if _any_
NF is present? That is, is it an all-or-nothing response? If so, I'm
wondering if if-then might be a perfectly acceptable way to model this
_at_a_particular_level_of_description_. If on the other hand the
response is not all-or-nothing, but merely very sensitive, then we're
just pushing the all-or-nothing response to a different stage of the
process. The effect of NF on FF may be smooth, but the effect of FF on
flowering behaviour is still all-or-nothing: In winter the plant is
_not_ flowering, and in spring it _is_ flowering.
So the question in my mind is: Do we need if-then in order to describe
all-or-nothing responses? At a certain level of description we certainly
don't. At this level we interpret any all-or-nothing response as a
catastrophe: a cusp in phase space at which a microscopic change in the
hormone NF produces a macroscopic change in behaviour (ie, flowering).
This can easily happen if the response curve linking the two is folded
back on itself in an S-shape to produce an apparent discontinuity. Yet
what if this would take my model into unwarranted levels of detail?
Would it not then be acceptable to use if-then as a modelling tool? NOT
as an algorithmic trick (which I too find reprehensible if my aim is
modelling), but rather as a higher level description of the deeper
catastrophic description.
Yours,
Niall.
Xxxxxxxxxx
From: "John Gunkler" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: RE: Teaching Systems Thinking
Date: Wed, 3 Nov 1999
I believe it is at least implicit in some of the responses to this question
about assessing (evaluating) the success of methods of teaching systems
thinking that we must carefully distinguish ST the "methodology" from ST the
"content."
I prefer, as do some others here, to think of ST (and, even more precisely,
system dynamics) as a set of methods for understanding the complexity of our
world. However, I must admit that there is some content component to ST as
well. That is, learning to see "systems" in everyday situations requires
certain knowledge and skills. There is content in understanding what
systems are and in distinguishing systems from other aspects of the world.
And that this content is valuable in one's life is hardly to be disputed.
However, I believe there is more power in ST/SD as method (or "tools" as
others have written here) than in ST/SD as content. Evaluating different
ways of teaching the use of a tool is primarily an exercise in evaluating
the effectiveness and efficiency of the learner's use of the tool to achieve
intended outcomes. (This has been called an "instrumental" view of
evaluation and seems very appropriate in this context to me.)
To do an instrumental assessment requires, first, identifying intended
outcomes for the subject matter into which ST/SD is to be introduced as a
tool. Then we determine the criteria by which success at achieving these
outcomes is (or is to be) measured -- speed of achievement, ease of
achievement, what percent of learners succeed within a predetermined time,
depth of understanding, generalization of what is learned (to other more or
less related situations), etc. Ideally, the criteria already exist for
judging success in the subject -- and we can use the same measures that have
been used historically to judge other methods. This assures skeptics that
we didn't "rig" the measures to favor ST.
John
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 3 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: "Janice C. Kowalczyk" <kowalcjn@ride.ri.net>
Subject: Re: Help!
Dan, I do not have an answer to your questions as I have not tried to model
this but since I use the yardstick demo in my class would be delighted to
see a working model of this in Stella....if you get that far will you be
willing to share it. I have not had time to give this any thought but have
a question...Why is this different from a thermostat model? Would it not
be the same situation and the same Stella model labeled differently? Since
I am a hands-on try it out person and do not have time for trying it at the
present....I may be way off base...so take this for what it is worth.
Janice Kowalczyk
>From: Dan Barcan <dbarcan@cpcs.chtr.k12.ma.us>
>To: 'k-12sd' <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
>Subject: Help!
>Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 08:31:50 -0500
>
>I am trying to build a Stella model which shows the system created by
>trying to balance a meter stick vertically on your hand. Steve Kipp has
>distributed some curriculum which uses this demonstration to create a
>balancing loop sketch. The Systems Thinking Playbook has a similar
>activity. My biggest cause for confusion in building the model is how
>to incorporate "time" - i.e., the effect of the delay between the
>stick's tipping over and your seeing it so you can adjust the position
>of your hand. I can't get the stick to oscillate in position - it just
>falls over. What am I doing wrong?
>
>Dan Barcan
>Chelmsford Public Charter School
Janice C. Kowalczyk
Assistant Director,
Leadership Program in Discrete Mathematics,
Rutgers University
Office: 401-841-5583
Home: 401-849-7546
"We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as
insolvable problems"
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999
From: William Costello <WILL@cvumail.cvu.cssd.k12.vt.us>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Teaching Sy
Assessment...we have had a few go-arounds on this one..from e-mail
discussions to a 1/2 day workshop at one of the annual meetings
(Wheaton, I think). I still maintain that we demonstrate nothing to the
educational community if we seek to assess SD by assessing SD! The
focus must be on assessing student learning, displaying increased
student understanding, and evaluate performance on problem solving
situations...all within the context of widely used instruments (generic). If
we propose that using SD as a set of tools and a method for increasing
understanding and learning, then we must assess it as such by using
the same instruments we might use if we did not employ SD.
As I developed a modeling-based physics program (997) I used a
pre-test and post-test that was developed by a university. The purpose
of the instrument was to assess students facility with conceptual
physics, and is used nationally. I had the advantage of having used the
same pre- and post-test for a number of years before insiituting the
model-based physcis curriculum. Because I was dealing in a specific
content area and a true assessment of student "mental models" was
available, I had a valid tool to look at the impact of SD.
In most curriculuar areas there are widely used and valid assessment
tools. How do we go about establishing a mechanism for "viewing" their
results as a reflection upon our using SD as a teaching tool?
xxxxxxxxxx
Reply-To: <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>
From: "John Gunkler" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: RE: Teaching Systems Thinking
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999
Richard Turnock suggests that "my" process can be described:
>>State intended outcomes
Determine criteria for measuring outcomes
Implement teaching using ST/SD tools
Students learn ST/SD tools
Students use ST/SD tools to learn content
Measure results of learning content using traditional methods
Compare results to intended outcomes using criteria<<
Yes, that's the general idea.
Let me give one illustration (not using ST/SD.)
When my son was in high school (a couple of years ago), there were
"computer" courses he could take that taught him how to use various software
programs. These courses lasted one or more entire semesters and were (in my
humble opinion) completely unmotivated -- that is, the students were there
to learn the software for the software's sake, I guess, not because they had
any need for it that they personally recognized or cared about. My son did
not avail himself of any of these courses.
However, he did sign up for a semester "course" working on the school
yearbook. Each student was made responsible for one (or more) complete
sections of the yearbook -- from conceptualization, to content writing, to
photography, to layout (using PageMaker software.) One of the first things
that happened was that he was encouraged to (voluntarily) come back to
school on two evenings to learn to use PageMaker. Not only did everyone
attend these evening sessions, but apparently everyone learned to use the
software -- at least well enough to produce a professional-looking yearbook
a couple of months later.
My (not formally evaluated) belief is that he, and the other yearbook
staffers, learned to use PageMaker better than did the students who took a
semester-long course. But whether that's true or not, it seems to me that
if one were asked to evaluate the use of PageMaker software in a high school
curriculum, one would do better to evaluate the quality improvement,
production time savings, and generalizable learning that derived from the
yearbook project than to evaluate what students in the semester-long
PageMaker class did.
Does that make any sense?
John
Xxxxxxxxx
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: Linda Booth Sweeney <Linda_Booth_Sweeney@harvard.edu>
Subject: Re: Teaching Systems Thinking -Reply
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999
William,
Could you say more abou how you constructed a "true assessment of student
"mental models" -- was this data obtained via one-on-one interviews?
observations? tests?
thanks,
Linda Booth Sweeney
>Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999
>From: William Costello <WILL@cvumail.cvu.cssd.k12.vt.us>
>To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
>Subject: Re: Teaching Sy
>
>Assessment...we have had a few go-arounds on this one..from e-mail
>discussions to a 1/2 day workshop at one of the annual meetings
>(Wheaton, I think). I still maintain that we demonstrate nothing to the
>educational community if we seek to assess SD by assessing SD! The
>focus must be on assessing student learning, displaying increased
>student understanding, and evaluate performance on problem solving
>situations...all within the context of widely used instruments (generic). If
>we propose that using SD as a set of tools and a method for increasing
>understanding and learning, then we must assess it as such by using
>the same instruments we might use if we did not employ SD.
>
>As I developed a modeling-based physics program (997) I used a
>pre-test and post-test that was developed by a university. The purpose
>of the instrument was to assess students facility with conceptual
>physics, and is used nationally. I had the advantage of having used the
>same pre- and post-test for a number of years before insiituting the
>model-based physcis curriculum. Because I was dealing in a specific
>content area and a true assessment of student "mental models" was
>available, I had a valid tool to look at the impact of SD.
>
>In most curriculuar areas there are widely used and valid assessment
>tools. How do we go about establishing a mechanism for "viewing" their
>results as a reflection upon our using SD as a teaching tool?
k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Linda Booth Sweeney
e-mail: Linda_Booth_Sweeney@harvard.edu
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999
From: jan mons <jmons@glynn.k12.ga.us>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: teaching fundamentals
k12 list serve,
Earlier this week some questions were asked about a previous email I
sent. I hesitate to respond about suggestions and ideas at this point
because we are in the early stages of a new experiment in our project.
BUT one of the good things about the work being done in k-12 education
is that it is all an experiment and none of us are experts.
> Did you find the following?
> >[Last fall Tim Joy facilitated a great discussion on this list serve
> >about where to start and five basic concepts]The discussion that Tim Joy
>facilitated was on the question (help me Tim):
-What are the four or five basic skills / starting points / fundamental
skills in teaching system dynamics.- I no longer have that email summary
stored to re-send but perhaps Nan can put it back on the list serve. It
also appeared in (I believe) in the Fall 98 issue of the Creative
Learning Exchange that you can download from their web site.
> Can you or anyone share some basic lessons to use with middle school and
> elementary students?
My references have been to mathematics because that is the field I am
most familiar with. As an Algebra teacher, I was frustrated with my
students inability to put all their skills together, to recognize the
connections between the operations, basically the flow of math concepts
into more complex problems. As someone who understood the flow, I had to
work hard to understand what they did not understand.
Last year several events occurred in my work with ST/SD that brought
that same problem up again. Teachers and students using ST/SD activities
but not being able to transfer ST/SD use to other situations, not seeing
the connections to everyday decision making. I am not the only one who
has experienced this and I certainly do not have any answers but I was
faced with a whole new set of questions.
Since I was moving into elementary schools this fall, I was faced with
the problem of figuring out how to teach the fundamentals and build for
transfer to more complex problems.
The k12 discussion last fall identified the basic concepts, vocabulary
and tools that need to be understood AND connected to each other.
Question - How do you teach them as independent skills and connect their
uses to each other? (How do elementary teachers teach the fundamentals
of addition and subtraction and connect them with multiplication and
division? - or do they?)
Before you read on please understand what I am doing is an experiment
and it is too early to tell whether it has long term possibilities. It
is what I have put together from my learning from a variety of people
and sources:
Jay Forrester - „Improving Mental Models‰
Jim Waters - create fertile ground
Tim Joy - a better way to communicate
John Heinbokel and Jeff Potash from Trinity - „The process is the goal‰
to name a few.
The teacher‚s willingness to learn new skills (take a risk) and their
understanding of the conceptual level of their students has been a major
factor also.
As I began work with elementary teachers and students. (currently 6
teachers in 2nd, 3rd and 5th grade). Rather than DOING activities using
BOTG, CLD and S/FD, We have developed a series of 3 lessons to TEACH the
use of- BOTG, CLD, S/FD, and Models and their connections to each other,
and ST/SD vocabulary (the concepts, properties, that drive systems such
as delay, feedback, accumulation, actions leave tracks, leverage points)
to students. This action also increased the teachers understanding. In
between presentations the classes practice the use of the new tool in
their own curriculum. When I go back into the class, we review, correct
misunderstandings and add new vocabulary(concepts) and tools to their
ST/SD BULLETIN BOARD. After the three presentations, the teachers and
students seem to have a better understanding of ST/SD and are able to
connect uses to other situations. They then can transfer these skills
and understandings to a variety of topics.
We are still refining skills of both teachers and students. This is all
a work in progress.
by the way - YES, the final activity looks at a STELLA model and we have
plans to use and teach modeling to the students.
Learning‚s: (not new to anyone but a part of all this)
_ There is no scope and sequence just level of complexity (add whole
numbers, then decimals, then fractions-etc.)
_ There is a starting point - students and teachers recognizing that it
is not about the activity or the right answer BUT it is about creating
an atmosphere in a classroom that OUT OF THE BOX thinking is the norm.
It is safe and necessary to share ideas, ask questions and listen to
each other - that is how we improve our own thinking.
_ Doing physical demonstrations and making direct connections between
tools is necessary.
_The somewhat generic teaching of the tools allows for better transfer
to other situations. We center on how the tool/concept helps increase
our understanding of any „situation‰ rather than the situation itself.
_Increasing the ability to use each tool, leads to better understanding
of it‚s use and it‚s connection to the bigger picture. (it‚s a whole
forest, individual tree thing)
_ The younger the student the easier this is. It is amazing how quickly
we go from WHY to what is the right answer in education.
The assessment at this point is documentation of students and teachers
TRANSFERRING use of the vocabulary, tools, a way of thinking to
situations they encounter everyday. Are they able to use the concepts,
vocabulary, and tools to explain their thinking in other situations? Do
they recognize it‚s application in an entirely different setting?
The ultimate assessment is when they get to High School will the simple
models that George mentioned earlier be simple for these students.
I want to thank Rob Quaden and Alan Ticotsky from the Waters Foundation
at Carlisle for sharing the IN and OUT game, which is one of the
lessons.
I apologize for the length of this message but .....
Jan Mons
GIST project coordinator/mentor
A Waters Foundation Project
Glynn County, Georgia
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: KCStarguy@aol.com
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999
Subject: collaboration
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
I am interested in collaborating with anyone who want to develop
philosophies, techniques and strategies for teaching Stella and system
thinking to middle school kids in an interdiscplinary format that stresses
visual as well as problem based learning.
Those interested contact
Dr. Eric Flescher (KCStarguy@aol.com)
Educational Technology Consultant-Adjunct Faculty, Lesley College
Gifted education consultant- Piper HS; Northwest MS, Coronado MS (Kansas
City, KS)
Project S.I.M. (Simulations, Interdisciplinary internet and Metacognitive
activities)
xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
From: Nan Lux <nlux@MIT.EDU>
Subject: research in Germany
To Stefanie and Kai,
What ages are the students you work with?
All the best,
Nan Lux
Ms. Nan S. Lux, Program Manager
MIT System Dynamics Group
E60-375, 30 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: (617) 253-1574 Fax: (617) 258-9405
Email: nlux@mit.edu
Web sites: http://sysdyn.mit.edu, http://web.mit.edu/sdg/www
xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999
From: Mary Ellen Verona <mverona@mvhs1.mbhs.edu>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Teaching Systems Thinking -Reply
I don't know if William Costello was referring to this instrument, but one
of the teachers in our system dynamics project was also involved ins the
Arizonal physics modeling project (not system dynamics - modeling in terms
of mental models). He gave his students the Force Concept Inventory (FCI)
at the beginning and end of the year. His students improved more than the
teacher at the top rated school in his county (not using system dynamics)
and did so well that the modeling project asked for him to colead a
workshop next summer that would include system dynamics in physics using
STELLA.
On Mon, 8 Nov 1999, k-12sd wrote:
> To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
> From: Linda Booth Sweeney <Linda_Booth_Sweeney@harvard.edu>
> Subject: Re: Teaching Systems Thinking -Reply
> Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 22:23:59 +0000
>
> William,
>
> Could you say more abou how you constructed a "true assessment of student
> "mental models" -- was this data obtained via one-on-one interviews?
> observations? tests?
>
> thanks,
>
> Linda Booth Sweeney
>
> >Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999
> >From: William Costello <WILL@cvumail.cvu.cssd.k12.vt.us>
> >To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
> >Subject: Re: Teaching Sy
> >
> >Assessment...we have had a few go-arounds on this one..from e-mail
> >discussions to a 1/2 day workshop at one of the annual meetings
> >(Wheaton, I think). I still maintain that we demonstrate nothing to the
> >educational community if we seek to assess SD by assessing SD! The
> >focus must be on assessing student learning, displaying increased
> >student understanding, and evaluate performance on problem solving
> >situations...all within the context of widely used instruments
>(generic). If
> >we propose that using SD as a set of tools and a method for increasing
> >understanding and learning, then we must assess it as such by using
> >the same instruments we might use if we did not employ SD.
> >
> >As I developed a modeling-based physics program (997) I used a
> >pre-test and post-test that was developed by a university. The purpose
> >of the instrument was to assess students facility with conceptual
> >physics, and is used nationally. I had the advantage of having used the
> >same pre- and post-test for a number of years before insiituting the
> >model-based physcis curriculum. Because I was dealing in a specific
> >content area and a true assessment of student "mental models" was
> >available, I had a valid tool to look at the impact of SD.
> >
> >In most curriculuar areas there are widely used and valid assessment
> >tools. How do we go about establishing a mechanism for "viewing" their
>results as a reflection upon our using SD as a teaching tool?
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: teresa@northwest.com
Subject: RE: Teaching Systems Thinking
I think about how this is the way that MOST of our technology is used in
schools. When I walk by TWO computer labs (one with new iMacs) that are
booked up EVERYDAY, EVERY class period for freshman Lang Arts, Social
Studies, Technology blocks and are only used for word processing and media
type programs in these classes, I wonder why I am limited to using a small
room in the back of the library with only 12 working computers (older
PowerMacs) for my classes of 25-30 students for ST/SD teaching AND that is
IF I can get my name on the sign up schedule in time WITHOUT fear of being
told that I am monopolizing the computer lab. Then to top it off, our
teachers AND students have been restricted from using these few PowerMacs
for Internet access and email and must use one of three old Mac Classics
for this. I don't have an entire prep period to wait for the pioneer
version of Netscape to download something I need. The few corporations out
there that fund technology for schools through grants also need to be
educated as to what are better uses for technology in education. Students
need to know something to make it a worthwhile media presentation.
At 01:33 PM 11/8/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Reply-To: <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>
>From: "John Gunkler" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>
>To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
>Subject: RE: Teaching Systems Thinking
>Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 09:38:58 -0600
>
>Richard Turnock suggests that "my" process can be described:
>>>State intended outcomes
>Determine criteria for measuring outcomes
>Implement teaching using ST/SD tools
>Students learn ST/SD tools
>Students use ST/SD tools to learn content
>Measure results of learning content using traditional methods
>Compare results to intended outcomes using criteria<<
>
>Yes, that's the general idea.
>
>Let me give one illustration (not using ST/SD.)
>
>When my son was in high school (a couple of years ago), there were
>"computer" courses he could take that taught him how to use various software
>programs. These courses lasted one or more entire semesters and were (in my
>humble opinion) completely unmotivated -- that is, the students were there
>to learn the software for the software's sake, I guess, not because they had
>any need for it that they personally recognized or cared about. My son did
>not avail himself of any of these courses.
>
>However, he did sign up for a semester "course" working on the school
>yearbook. Each student was made responsible for one (or more) complete
>sections of the yearbook -- from conceptualization, to content writing, to
>photography, to layout (using PageMaker software.) One of the first things
>that happened was that he was encouraged to (voluntarily) come back to
>school on two evenings to learn to use PageMaker. Not only did everyone
>attend these evening sessions, but apparently everyone learned to use the
>software -- at least well enough to produce a professional-looking yearbook
>a couple of months later.
>
>My (not formally evaluated) belief is that he, and the other yearbook
>staffers, learned to use PageMaker better than did the students who took a
>semester-long course. But whether that's true or not, it seems to me that
>if one were asked to evaluate the use of PageMaker software in a high school
>curriculum, one would do better to evaluate the quality improvement,
>production time savings, and generalizable learning that derived from the
>yearbook project than to evaluate what students in the semester-long
>PageMaker class did.
>
>Does that make any sense?
>
>John
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999
From: William Costello <WILL@cvumail.cvu.cssd.k12.vt.us>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Teaching Systems Thinking -Reply
Linda,
Assessment for the Physics program was conducted in three ways. The course
was constructed in 9 Learning Environments (LE), with topics such as
constant speed, acceleration, 2-D motion, circular motion, etc. The first
step in the process was for students to observe a demonstration of an
object undegoing the specific mechanical behavior upon which the LE was
based, i.e. a ball is dropped in a free fall demonstration. Following the
demonstration students described the behavior and hypothesized upon the
mechanism for the behavior (initial mental model). After completing each
phase in the modeling cycle which included physical, graphical,
mathematical, virtual, and systems models, student reflected upon, and
edited their initial mental models to incorporate new knowledge obtained in
the experience(s).
Secondly, students were given the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), a
standardized multiple-choice test of "conceptual" physics, as a pre-test at
the start of this 1 semester course, and the identical assessment was
utitlized at the end of the course.
Thirdy, in an attempt to get some handle on retention of concepts, most
students (the 98% who elected to enroll in the 2nd semester course) were
re-tested with the FCI following the completion of their 2nd semester (18
weeks after completion of the course inmechanics).
This procedure was folowed for 3 years prior to the introduction of the
"modeling cycle" approach and for 3 years after.
If I ever find some time my intention is to do a complete statistical
work-up and finalize this as a MEd thesis. Preliminary analysis indicates
a gain (following intro on the modeling approach) of as much as 2 standard
deviations.
regards,
will
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: Ed Gallaher <gallaher@mail.teleport.com>
Subject: Re: Costello Assessment
>Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 22:41:13 -0500
>From: William Costello <WILL@cvumail.cvu.cssd.k12.vt.us>
>To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
>Subject: Re: Teaching Systems Thinking -Reply -Reply
>This procedure was folowed for 3 years prior to the introduction of the
>"modeling cycle" approach and for 3 years after.
>If I ever find some time my intention is to do a complete statistical
>work-up and finalize this as a MEd thesis. Preliminary analysis indicates
>a gain (following intro on the modeling approach) of as much as 2 standard
>deviations.
>regards,
>will
Whaddyamean "If I ever find time . . . " ?! This sounds phenomenal!
Can anyone manufacture some time for Will?
Let's see - maybe someone could develop a model with TIME as a stock, and
figure out a way to increase the input to more than 24 hrs/day? If we keep
the output at 24 hrs/day, TIME will begin to accumulate. When a month or
so extra TIME has accumulated, Will can take a month off, we'll find him a
quiet place to do the work, and he can finish his assessment statistics.
(No one will ever be the wiser.)
This will be a real modeling challenge, so of course we'll need an expert
to do the work.
George?
Ed Gallaher
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999
From: "RICHARD TURNOCK" <Richard_Turnock@pgn.com>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Role of student in the system
In a previous email, I proposed the following process for assessment:
>>>>>>>>>>>
Determine criteria for measuring outcomes
Implement teaching using ST/SD tools
Students learn ST/SD tools
Students use ST/SD tools to learn content
Measure results of learning content using traditional methods
Compare results to intended outcomes using criteria
>>>>>>>>>
Isn't this the same outline that is used for "action research", except
I've added ST/SD tools? Also, it assumes the student's a worker in the
system, responsible for their own learning. My mental model of how a
school should function has the student as a worker in the system and
learning is the product.
Thanks
Richard
richard_turnock@pgn.com
Educational Services
503-464-8503
xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999
From: "Allan Collins" <collina@irn.pdx.edu>
To: <K-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Hello,
Hello,
My name is Allan Collins and I am a new listserve member. I am a graduate
student in developmental psychology and I am doing my thesis on System
Dynamics.
Specifically, I am interested in how well Systems Dynamics helps students
(at the middle school level) in problem solving and critical thinking
skills. I am also looking at how well a systems approach transfers to
other academic areas.
I have found that I am not alone in looking at the transferability issue.
It sounds like there are a number of you who are wanting to successfully
integrate Systems Dynamics into the school curriculum, specifically across
subjects.
Also, there seems to be little published work on systems dynamics,
especially at the middle school level. I have exhausted the literature and
have come up with little. If anyone knows of any current (i.e., 1997-1999)
research published on this particular topic, I would greatly appreciate the
help.
thank you,
Allan Collins
Xxxxxxxxxxx
From: "Kai Berendes" <kaib@chaos.bwl.uni-mainz.de>
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: research in Germany
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999
Dear Nan,
The students in the project we are working with are aged 17 and older. They
are participating in the German "dual system" of vocational training. That
means they are instructed partime in school and in the company. The
SD-approaches take place at the school.
Best regards,
Kai
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dipl.- Hdl. Kai Berendes
Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz
FB03 Wirtschaftspaedagogik
Jakob-Welder-Weg 9
55099 Mainz
Tel.: 06131 - 393738 06131 - 238088 (privat)
Fax: 395784
E-mail: berendes@wiwi.uni-mainz.de
xxxxxxxxxxxx
From: KCStarguy@aol.com
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999
Subject: interesting points
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu, teresa@northwest.com
(To Teresa)
You have some good points. One of the recent research articles relates that a
main improvment is for students to be able to revise and develope and edit
their products and essays.
Most teachers and admininstrators can understand word processing assignments
and how they can get the students going. I wonder - do the students write
their compositions off line first instead of composing on the computer?
It is too bad that you can't get more time in the high tech mac labs>? What
do you plan to do or does anyone have suggestions?
Dr. Eric Flescher,(KCStarguy@aol.com) - Editor, MacsU.N.I.T.E.- MacIntosh
Users Network for Integrating TEchnology Into
Educationhttp://members.aol.com/kcstarguy/macsunite/unite.htm <to subscribe
send email to macsunite-subscribe@egroups.com>
Editor, TechU.N.I.T.E.- Technology Users Network for Integrating TEchnology
Into Education to subscribe send email to techunite-subscribe@egroups.com
The word 'engage' is what Jean Luc Picard says for the Enterprise to go
somewhere- it should not be used to indicate what students are learning with
computers and technology
In a message dated 11/9/99 10:29:40 AM, k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu writes:
<< The few corporations out
there that fund technology for schools through grants also need to be
educated as to what are better uses for technology in education. Students
need to know something to make it a worthwhile media presentation. >>
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999
From: Lynne <lynne@csnet.net>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Role of student in the system
Richard, I am interested in your mental model of how a school should function.
Besides students and learning, what are the other pieces of your model and
how do
they interact with students as workers and learning as product?
Thanks,
Lynne Bernstein
k-12sd wrote:
> Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 16:22:38 -0800
> From: "RICHARD TURNOCK" <Richard_Turnock@pgn.com>
> To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
> Subject: Role of student in the system
>
> In a previous email, I proposed the following process for assessment:
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> Determine criteria for measuring outcomes
> Implement teaching using ST/SD tools
> Students learn ST/SD tools
> Students use ST/SD tools to learn content
> Measure results of learning content using traditional methods
> Compare results to intended outcomes using criteria
> >>>>>>>>>
> Isn't this the same outline that is used for "action research", except
> I've added ST/SD tools? Also, it assumes the student's a worker in the
> system, responsible for their own learning. My mental model of how a
> school should function has the student as a worker in the system and
> learning is the product.
>
> Thanks
> Richard
>
> richard_turnock@pgn.com
> Educational Services
> 503-464-8503
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: teresa@northwest.com
Subject: Re: Role of student in the system
Richard
Yes, your mental model of the student as "worker" to learn the content and
the learning as the product seems to be the way we should be headed, not
only with ST/SD but with all teaching/learning approaches. I heard a quote
once from a mentor teacher to his student teacher which went something like
this....
"when you the teacher are doing more work than your students, then
something is very wrong".....This kind of hit home with me today when I was
responding to my students questions about how their quarter grades came
out. I told them that the problem was that in some classes only about 10%
of them were doing much of the required assignments. Then I heard a couple
of comments like..."I don't think I've learned anything in this class
yet"....these comments coming from the students in the class who have done
the least work. Hmm....
I proceeded to remind them that they needed to do more to connect with the
content to make it their own knowledge and I couldn't just pour it into
their heads.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: George Richardson <gpr@csc.albany.edu>
Subject: Re: Hello,
[...]
>Also, there seems to be little published work on systems dynamics,
>especially at the middle school level. I have exhausted the literature and
>have come up with little. If anyone knows of any current (i.e., 1997-1999)
>research published on this particular topic, I would greatly appreciate the
>help.
There's a new edition of the system dynamics bibliography available online
at http://www.vensim.com/sdmail/
It's likely that all such reference questions should start there, although
it may be true that the bibliography could miss publications aimed at
school teachers and topics if we aren't vigilant in identifying things like
that that we find. (Send new cites to Roberta Spencer
<system.dynamics@albany.edu>.
...GPR
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
George P. Richardson G.P.Richardson@Albany.edu
Chair, Dept. of Public Administration and Policy 518-442-5258
Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy 518-442-5298
University at Albany, NY 12222 http:/www.albany.edu/~gpr
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999
From: "Daniel D Burke" <BURKED@cna.org>
To: <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Role of student in the system
Richard,
I am also interested in your mental model of how a school works. I have
been thinking about this ever since I began work on NSF's Systemic Reform
Initiatives. I think that not having a good model of how schools work is
certainly a key stumbling block in progams designed to improve them.
Dan Burke
>>> "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu> 11/16/99 09:31AM >>>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999
From: Lynne <lynne@csnet.net>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Role of student in the system
Richard, I am interested in your mental model of how a school should function.
Besides students and learning, what are the other pieces of your model and
how do
they interact with students as workers and learning as product?
Thanks,
Lynne Bernstein
k-12sd wrote:
> Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999
> From: "RICHARD TURNOCK" <Richard_Turnock@pgn.com>
> To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
> Subject: Role of student in the system
>
> In a previous email, I proposed the following process for assessment:
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> Determine criteria for measuring outcomes
> Implement teaching using ST/SD tools
> Students learn ST/SD tools
> Students use ST/SD tools to learn content
> Measure results of learning content using traditional methods
> Compare results to intended outcomes using criteria
> >>>>>>>>>
> Isn't this the same outline that is used for "action research", except
> I've added ST/SD tools? Also, it assumes the student's a worker in the
> system, responsible for their own learning. My mental model of how a
> school should function has the student as a worker in the system and
> learning is the product.
>
> Thanks
> Richard
>
> richard_turnock@pgn.com
> Educational Services
503-464-8503
xxxxxxxxxxxx
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
From: Lees Stuntz <stuntzln@tiac.net>
Subject: ST&DM K-12 conference
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999
Dear Listserve,
In this e-mail is a text version of the brochure for the 2000
Systems Thinking and Dynamic Modeling Conference for K-12 Education to be
held June 25-27 just outside Portland, OR in the lovely Columbia River
Gorge. We are accepting registrations as well as abstracts for
presentations. Deadline for submissions for presentations is February 1.
Abstracts are to be send via e-mail to me, Lees Stuntz<stuntzln@tiac.net>
If we don't have your address and you wish a copy of the brochure
when it is sent out in January, please get in touch with me.
Coming Together and Moving Forward
Systems Thinking and Dynamic Modeling Conference
June 25 - June 27, 2000
Skamania Lodge
in the Columbia River Gorge
Stevenson, WA
easily accessible from Portland, OR
Keynote Speakers:
Jay Forrester
George Richardson
The Systems Thinking and Dynamic Modeling Conference will provide
resources and opportunity for educators and interested citizens to explore
what is current and possible in K-12 systems education.
The Conference is designed to involve experienced individuals as well as
novices in K-12 systems education.
- Teachers
- Administrators
- Curriculum coordinators
- Citizen advocates
- Business partners for schools
Our presenters and attendees will address multiple interests.
- Use of systems tools in both classrooms and organizations
- Learner-centered learning and dynamic modeling as part of the curriculum
- The synergy of peer contact and planning
- Use of systems tools to facilitate critical thinking
- Improving the quality of education within local schools
- Life-long learning and creativity in students and teachers
Our goal is to help students/future employees to be self-motivated and to
have the critical thinking skills necessary to look at dynamic systems in
an increasingly complex technological society.
The conference topics include:
- Successive improvement-how have we done it? What are the markers of our
failures and triumphs?
- Case studies-where has SD made a difference?
- Systems Education Pathways-from varied entry points, which paths
have/have not worked? How do we create them?
- System Dynamics-a vehicle for collaboration and questioning
- Tools for understanding
The conference program includes:
- Sessions to clarify systems concepts and tools in the classroom and in
school administration
- Presentation of systems curricula developed by teachers
- Games that illustrate a systems perspective
- Time to exchange ideas with others about systems education for K-12
Presenters include:
- Teachers and administrators actively involved in systems education across
the country and internationally
- Internationally known speakers and professors in the field of systems
thinking and system dynamics
THE CONFERENCE WILL RUN FROM REGISTRATION AT 8:00 AM SUNDAY, JUNE 25, TO
NOON, TUESDAY, JUNE 27.
Call or e-mail for further information.
Andi Miller, Creative Learning Exchange
978-287-0070 milleras@cle.tiac.net
The conference will be held at Skamania Lodge, a full service resort
located on 175 wooded acres in the heart of the magnificent Columbia River
Gorge National Scenic Area, only 45 minutes from Portland International
Airport and 2-1/2 hours from the Oregon seacoast. The conference center and
hotel provide flexible meeting space, comfortable guest rooms with extra
amenities and spectacular views, award-winning Pacific Northwest cuisine,
and a lounge open until late in the evening. Golf, tennis, walking trails,
pool and fitness center are available on site.
The full conference package includes registration fee, 5 meals (Monday
evening has been left open for possible off-site exploration), and a hotel
room at Skamania Lodge Sunday and Monday, June 25 and 26.
The CLE will also take reservations for Saturday night, June 24, at
Skamania Lodge. An additional $135.00 (includes tax) must accompany the
conference package fee. See registration form. Register early.
Registrants not staying at Skamania Lodge must make their own lodging
arrangements. Make all reservations early. This is a scenic, tourist area.
Additional rooms are available at:
Best Western, 3 miles away. For the special conference rate ($79.00 + tax,
mountain view; $89.00 + tax, river view; $99.00 + tax, river view w/
balcony), phone 800-595-7108 and mention the ST&DM conference.
Econo Lodge, 1 mile away. For the special conference rate ($48.00 +
tax/single; $58.50 + tax/double), phone 509-427-5628 and mention the ST&DM
conference.
To be assured of a place, please register early. Hotels in the area fill at
this time of year, so make all reservations as soon as possible.
Transportation Information
Blue Star Shuttle. 800-247-2272. $35.00 - $45.00 one-way, Portland
International Airport to Skamania Lodge. Call one week ahead to schedule
round trip transportation; give conference name to get discounted
price-$35.00 - $45.00, dependent upon how many people use the service
individually.
Please mail registration form with payment to:
Andi Miller, The Creative Learning Exchange
1 Keefe Rd., Acton, MA 01720
(978) 287-0070 FAX (978) 287-0080 milleras@cle.tiac.net
Confirmation, Cancellation and Surcharge Policy
You will receive written confirmation by mail. Full refund available
through May 8.
Cancellation Fee: $50.00 cancellation fee after May 8.
Late Registration Fee: $50.00 late registration fee after May 8.
Participant Information-please print
Use one form per person.
Mr/Ms/Mrs______________________________________________
Name for Tag____________________________________________
Sch./Dist./Co. Name_______________________________________
Title____________________________________________________
_ Home _ School
Address_________________________________________________
City___________________________________ State_______ Zip_____________
Day Phone No.________________________ FAX______________________
E-mail address____________________________________________
Fees are payable by purchase order, check, or money order.
Make checks payable to: Systems Thinking and Dynamic Modeling (ST&DM)
Conference. Registrations will not be processed without accompanying
payment and complete information. Use one form per person. Photocopy as
necessary.
Registration Fees (per person, Sunday AM - Tuesday Noon)
- Full conference registration fee
includes 5 meals and double occupancy room.......$ 550.00
- Full conference registration fee
includes 5 meals and single room........................$ 660.00
- Conference registration fee
includes meals only...........................................$ 370.00
- Saturday night room.....................................................$
135.00
- Late Fee: add $50.00 to above rates after May 8.............$ 50.00
Call us for space availability.
TOTAL ENCLOSED............$___________
Accommodations
All rooms are available on a first come, first served basis.
- Double room - rooming with______________________________________
- Smoking room, if available. Most rooms are non-smoking.
Excursions
______I am interested in tours exploring the area on Monday evening.
Lees N. Stuntz
Creative Learning Exchange Phone- 978-287-0070
1 Keefe Road Fax- 978-287-0080
Acton, MA 01720 e-mail- stuntzln@tiac.net
http://sysdyn.mit.edu/cle/
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999
From: "RICHARD TURNOCK" <Richard_Turnock@pgn.com>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Engineers
I have an opportunity to introduce dynamic modeling to professional
engineers. The new requirements to maintain their license in Oregon
require 30 hours every two years of professional development courses. Does
anyone have a resource for models targeted at Civil, Electrical and
Mechanical Engineering? The topics need to be advanced technical problems.
Maybe someone at the university level has models for engineers.
Richard
richard_turnock@pgn.com
Educational Services
503-464-8503
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
From: "David Foster" <dfoster@cis.com.mx>
To: <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: How to start?
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999
I see many messages requesting information on how to introduce SD in the
classroom. However at this time I work with a private school to first
introduce systems thinking to the director and administration staff of the
school. The plan is to introduce SD to students when the school itself SD
and ST in operational areas other than with students.
My question, how is systems thinking to be introduced to students when the
school system itself
does not apply its lessons to the functions other than classroom? From
experience of the last few months SD is easily adopted by management once
shown clearly its function within their environment.
Xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: rileye1@massed.net (Eileen Riley)
Subject: Re: Role of student in the system
Couldn't resist commenting on your "how does a school work" discussion.
Shouldn't it include a discussion of "how learning occurs?"
A bit of introduction. I am the School Business Manager for the Carlisle
Public Schools in Carlise, MA a small (approx. 4575 pop) suburb northwest
of Boston. We have approx. 775 students on our preK-8 campus and are a
Waters Foundation Systems site. I am also the Technology Administrator and
Systems Grant Administrator. We have two systems mentors (Al and Rob - who
I am sure you have seen correspondence from on this list serve) who work
with students and staff to integrate "systems thinking/dynamic modeling"
into the curriculum and school practices. We refer to our students as
"active learners" rather than workers. As a former high school business ed
teacher, I can very much see "students as workers" at that level. However,
they have already set many of their learning "habits" at that point - as
some of us have. They can learn and integrate systems thinking into their
"toolkit."
The interesting thing that we have found is that younger children "think
this way naturally" and we work to help that continue, rather than pushing
curriculum into discrete areas. This may be a digression from your topic.
As to "how schools work," I believe an important component to consider is
the "learning organization" itself, not just the students and teachers. We
are working as an administrative team to study STITO (Systems Thinking in
the Organization) and believe building our knowledge in this area will help
us to operate more effectively.
If you have an NSF grant to "model schools," I think you need to consider
these other aspects which are an integral part of the students' learning
experience. When we have even a scheduling conflict of activities, there
is a snowball or chain of events. If a pattern can be seen, this may be a
chance for systems to help - a causal loop, "systems archetype," "mental
model" discussion can happen. This usually provides more information and
sometimes a solution to a problem. Would be interested in what you have
modeled so far as to how schools operate and your comments.
Regards,
Eileen F. Riley
School Business Manager
Carlisle Public Schools
Carlisle, MA 01741
Xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: rileye1@massed.net (Eileen Riley)
Subject: Re: Engineers
I would suggest calling Worcester Polytechnical Institute, a four year
college, in Worcester, MA. They have a program major in systems and I
would imagine have graduate programs as well. Regards, Eileen Riley
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999
From: Marion Brady <mbrady@digital.net>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Role of student in the system
> I am also interested in your mental model of how a school works. I have
> been thinking about this ever since I began work on NSF's Systemic Reform
> Initiatives. I think that not having a good model of how schools work is
> certainly a key stumbling block in progams designed to improve them....
Dan,
It seems to me that "systemic reform" has to start with a universally
understood and agreed-upon function for the system, a purpose so clear that it
leaves no doubt about the degree of appropriateness of every lesson in every
subject.
Just out of curiosity, I started collecting statements of purpose for
general
education that were mentioned in posts on the various listservs to which I
subscribe.
Here's the list thus far:
Achieve "world class" standards
Stay economically competitive
Raise standardized test scores
Teach the disciplines more effectively
Teach students to think
Teach "the basics"
Prepare students for democratic citizenship
Help students become culturally literate
Help students become informed consumers
Facilitate self-actualization
Solve social problems
Surpass other nations
Teach systems thinking
Build self-esteem
Pose the "eternal questions"
Instill a love of learning
Develop character
Teach the whole child
Create caring individuals
Teach key concepts
Promote intercultural understanding
Meet individual needs
"Know thyself"
Explore broad themes
Transmit societal values
Prepare students for useful, satisfying work
Foster joy in learning
Think we might have a problem?
Marion
--
SUPRADISCIPLINARY, SEAMLESS CURRICULA
http://digital.net/~mbrady/
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999
From: Marion Brady <mbrady@digital.net>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Role of student in the system
> Richard
> Yes, your mental model of the student as "worker" to learn the content and
> the learning as the product seems to be the way we should be headed, not
> only with ST/SD but with all teaching/learning approaches.....
I certainly agree that students should be doing lots of work, and I have a
history of requiring that, but there seems to me to be an implied passivity in
the above.
I see the ultimate aim of instruction as helping the student make explicit
her or his implicitly known mental model of reality (system for organizing
knowledge). That done, I try to help them explore ways of refining the system
and putting it to work in myriad practical ways.
This process departs considerably from the traditional perception of
instruction as moving information from one who knows to one who doesn't know.
"Manager" is closer to what I'm looking for than "worker."
Marion
--
SUPRADISCIPLINARY, SEAMLESS CURRICULA
http://digital.net/~mbrady/
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999
From: "RICHARD TURNOCK" <Richard_Turnock@pgn.com>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Mental model
>>>>>>>
Richard,
I am also interested in your mental model of how a school works.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
OK, here is a little more information about the model of how an
organization should work.
You can go to our web site and get a summary:
http://www.pge-edsvcs.com/programs/IQue.htm
The program's called Initiative for Quality in Education (IQue), (cute
name,huh?). The model is from Pinellas County Schools in Florida. It uses
an integrated management system based on the Baldridge framework. The
system recognizes the linkages and interdependence in an organization and
the dynamic relationships. This is NOT a business model imposed on an
education system. The Baldridge framework is independent of the type of
organization. Each state, district, school, classroom and student goes
through a process of answering questions. Here are a few:
Who is our customer?
What is our purpose?
What is our mission?
What are our goals?
What are the processes?
What are we going to measure?
The Baldridge framework has core values and criteria. The organization
evaluates the actual processes used at each level (state, district, school,
classroom) and determines whether they are in alignment with the purpose,
mission and goals of the organization.
We're getting great results and so have others in Florida and Texas. As
educators complete training and implement the new system, test scores
increase.
This is a results oriented system. The result is learning. The student is
a worker in the system. As a worker, the students create BOTGs of the
things they want to measure. They set goals.
richard_turnock@pgn.com
Educational Services
www.pge-edsvcs.com
503-464-8503
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
From: sthompson@foundation.panasonic.com
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999
Subject: Re: How to start?
One might add to David Foster's important question -- "how is systems
thinking to be introduced to students when the school system itself does
not apply its lessons to the functions other than classroom?"-- the
following question: how sustainable will be the application of the concepts
and tools of ST/SD to the school as a system if no attention is given to
the school district as a dynamic system of schools (at least as far as
public education is concerned)? There are a few school districts working
with ST concepts and tools at this level, and we tried to capture some of
what they are learning in the July 1999 issue of STRATEGIES (an issues
series that the Panasonic Foundation publishes in collaboration with the
American Association of School Administrators). The issue can be view on
line at: http://www.aasa.org/Pubs/strategies/contents.htm.
Scott Thompson
Assistant Director
Panasonic Foundation
xxxxxxxxxx
From: KCStarguy@aol.com
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999
Subject: how learning occurs
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu, rileye1@massed.net
Regarding the need (see below) about a discussion of "how learning occurs?
Students need to know there are different ways to learn.
Students need to reflect upon what they have learned and how and what they
were doing especially with system thinking or with use of simulations
including ones like simcity2000, simlife, simfarm and more.
This needs to include Howard Gardner's intelligence mode thinking and problem
solving strategies. There needs to be a focus in visualizing and modeling
your ideas not just thinking logically.
I am formulating a curriculum to teach with stella to middle schools. I know
that my students are not used to doing anything remotely like stella and are
not used to systematic thinking without being too structured.
I also currently have students reflect upon what they have done during the
class period - metacognitive thinking . I have them fill out my specially
prepared EJAW sheets in which they write and draw about what they have
learned in 4 modes.
The focus should not be to teach the students how to think systematically and
using system thinking but using system thinking to allow them to learn in
different ways.
Dr. Eric Flescher (KCStarguy@aol.com)
Project S.I.M. (Simulations, Interdisciplinary internet and Metacognitive
activities) http://members.aol.com/kcstarguy/sim/index.htm
Educational Technology Consultant-Adjunct Faculty, Lesley College
Gifted education consultant- Piper HS; Northwest MS, Coronado MS (Kansas
City, KS)
In a message dated 11/19/99 1:49:35 PM, k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu writes:
<< Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 14:11:40 -0500 (EST)
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: rileye1@massed.net (Eileen Riley)
Subject: Re: Role of student in the system
Couldn't resist commenting on your "how does a school work" discussion.
Shouldn't it include a discussion of "how learning occurs? >>
xxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Dan Barcan <dbarcan@cpcs.chtr.k12.ma.us>
To: 'k-12sd' <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: RE: How to start?
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999
David: I have done this kind of work at my school, I think. I'm not
sure about your question. Does the school leadership want to use SD/ST?
Or are they reluctant to send it on to the kids? Can you clarify?
Maybe I can be of some help.
Dan Barcan
Chelmsford Public Charter School
-----Original Message-----
From: k-12sd [mailto:k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu]
Sent: Friday, November 19, 1999 1:55 PM
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: How to start?
From: "David Foster" <dfoster@cis.com.mx>
To: <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: How to start?
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 11:45:46 -0600
I see many messages requesting information on how to introduce SD in the
classroom. However at this time I work with a private school to first
introduce systems thinking to the director and administration staff of
the
school. The plan is to introduce SD to students when the school itself
SD
and ST in operational areas other than with students.
My question, how is systems thinking to be introduced to students when
the
school system itself
does not apply its lessons to the functions other than classroom? From
experience of the last few months SD is easily adopted by management
once
shown clearly its function within their environment.
xxxxxxxxxxx
From: "Steve Seaford" <sseaford@spusd.k12.ca.us>
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: RE: Mental model
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999
>We're getting great results and so have others in Florida and Texas. As
educators complete training and implement the new system, test scores
increase...As a worker, the students create BOTGs of the
things they want to measure. They set goals.<
IQue sounds interesting. Does it distinguish itself in any significant way
from a TQM approach to school reform? If so, what is it?
If students set the goals, do they also co-create the tests? If yes, the
ensuing clarity and sense of ownership could enhance students' motivation,
and thus, test scores. If no, I'm curious as to how the students' goals
aligned with someone else's (standardized?) test goals in a way that has
increased the students' scores on such tests.
Steve Seaford
South Pasadena Middle School
-----Original Message-----
From: k-12sd [mailto:k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu]
Sent: Friday, November 19, 1999 10:59 AM
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Mental model
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999
From: "RICHARD TURNOCK" <Richard_Turnock@pgn.com>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Mental model
>>>>>>>
Richard,
I am also interested in your mental model of how a school works.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
OK, here is a little more information about the model of how an
organization should work.
You can go to our web site and get a summary:
http://www.pge-edsvcs.com/programs/IQue.htm
The program's called Initiative for Quality in Education (IQue), (cute
name,huh?). The model is from Pinellas County Schools in Florida. It uses
an integrated management system based on the Baldridge framework. The
system recognizes the linkages and interdependence in an organization and
the dynamic relationships. This is NOT a business model imposed on an
education system. The Baldridge framework is independent of the type of
organization. Each state, district, school, classroom and student goes
through a process of answering questions. Here are a few:
Who is our customer?
What is our purpose?
What is our mission?
What are our goals?
What are the processes?
What are we going to measure?
The Baldridge framework has core values and criteria. The organization
evaluates the actual processes used at each level (state, district, school,
classroom) and determines whether they are in alignment with the purpose,
mission and goals of the organization.
We're getting great results and so have others in Florida and Texas. As
educators complete training and implement the new system, test scores
increase.
This is a results oriented system. The result is learning. The student is
a worker in the system. As a worker, the students create BOTGs of the
things they want to measure. They set goals.
richard_turnock@pgn.com
Educational Services
www.pge-edsvcs.com
503-464-8503
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999
Subject: Re: Mental model
From: "David Gibson" <dgibson@vismt.org>
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu> , k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
the Baldridge framework.
Having just returned from a National Education Association conference in FL where the Baldridge framework was extensively promoted, I would vouch for its dynamical systems possibilities. It needs to be mapped in specific terms (in my opinion) to take on the character that other mapping projects (i.e. in ecosystems, economics, etc) have approached or attained. Also (for Dan especially, who may already know this) the Baldridge criteria are very close to the NSF "drivers" in ceratin respects - all of which leads me to speculate that some good work remains to be done to build specific operational models within either of those frameworks. I've tackled the first NSF "driver" from just one angle. Has anyone else done this with Baldridge stuff? I showed the national leadership at the NEA meeting, and there was some interest in working more on it. wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw David Gibson
xxxxxxxxxx
From: LucasRPS@aol.com
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999
Subject: Re: Re: Role of student in the system
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Dear Eileen,
I have been following the discussion on students and appreciated your
comment. I wasn't going to add to the discussion but your term "active
learners" triggered the term Jay Forrester uses "learner-directed learners".
That image helps us realize there has to be feedback in the system. As a
teaching superintendent in a K-8 school and a long time SD/ST advocate, the
best lessons I have observed offered a wide range of feedback options for the
full spectrum of learning styles in the individual students.
Good thoughts,
Tim Lucas
Ho-Ho-Kus Public School
Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey
xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: teresa@northwest.com
Subject: Re: Engineers
Richard,
I'm sure you know this but have you checked with the Systems Science
program at PSU? I know that they require their graduate engineering
students to take some systems courses. Michael Johnson would be a good
contact person. He has been a SymBowl judge with me for the past four
years. I think he does some teaching at PSU in that program in addition to
having his own consultion business.
Teresa
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999
From: "Daniel D Burke" <BURKED@cna.org>
To: <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Role of student in the system
Marian,
I doubt that we will ever reach universal agreement, but I don't think it
is a hopeless muddle. Many of the purposes you have listed are really
different ways of saying the same thing. In any case, the NSF reforms do
have a set of specific goals: science and mathematics literacy as defined
by the standards (national, state, local aren't much different);
preparation for the technological workforce; and preparation for post
secondary science and mathematics majors for those who which to do so.
Even these may well be the same thing. All of these things revolve around
enabling high level achievement by students.
Dan Burke
>>> "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu> 11/19/99 01:58PM >>>
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 20:53:50 -0500
From: Marion Brady <mbrady@digital.net>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Role of student in the system
> I am also interested in your mental model of how a school works. I have
> been thinking about this ever since I began work on NSF's Systemic Reform
> Initiatives. I think that not having a good model of how schools work is
> certainly a key stumbling block in progams designed to improve them....
Dan,
It seems to me that "systemic reform" has to start with a universally
understood and agreed-upon function for the system, a purpose so clear that it
leaves no doubt about the degree of appropriateness of every lesson in every
subject.
Just out of curiosity, I started collecting statements of purpose for
general
education that were mentioned in posts on the various listservs to which I
subscribe.
Here's the list thus far:
Achieve "world class" standards
Stay economically competitive
Raise standardized test scores
Teach the disciplines more effectively
Teach students to think
Teach "the basics"
Prepare students for democratic citizenship
Help students become culturally literate
Help students become informed consumers
Facilitate self-actualization
Solve social problems
Surpass other nations
Teach systems thinking
Build self-esteem
Pose the "eternal questions"
Instill a love of learning
Develop character
Teach the whole child
Create caring individuals
Teach key concepts
Promote intercultural understanding
Meet individual needs
"Know thyself"
Explore broad themes
Transmit societal values
Prepare students for useful, satisfying work
Foster joy in learning
Think we might have a problem?
Marion
--
SUPRADISCIPLINARY, SEAMLESS CURRICULA
http://digital.net/~mbrady/
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: Lascelles Anderson <lascelle@uic.edu>
Subject: Re: Mental model
I have read with some interest the dialogue on "how the school system
works," and wonder whether it is useful to start at the extraordinarily
difficult level of trying to model the entire system rather than at the
level of some specific generic problem, the modeling of which would
encourage thinking about how the systemn hangs together to produce that
problem. I have come to feel that the second way would be better. What's
our thinking here?
Lascelles
(See Richard Turnock, Nov. 19)
xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999
From: "RICHARD TURNOCK" <Richard_Turnock@pgn.com>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Re:Mental model
>>>>>>>.
IQue sounds interesting. Does it distinguish itself in any significant way
>from a TQM approach to school reform? If so, what is it?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
when implemented TQM may or may not follow the Baldrige framework.
The IQue program does follow the Baldrige criteria and core values.
Here is the web site for the national program by NIST.
http://www.quality.nist.gov/
Each state implements their own program and follows the national program.
We have the Oregon Quality Awards for business and education.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
If students set the goals, do they also co-create the tests? If yes, the
ensuing clarity and sense of ownership could enhance students' motivation,
and thus, test scores. If no, I'm curious as to how the students' goals
aligned with someone else's (standardized?) test goals in a way that has
increased the students' scores on such tests.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Leadership determines the aim, purpose, strategy and goals at each level of
the organization using a customer driven approach. The leader at the
school level is the principal; at the classroom level the teacher; at the
learner level the student.
In the classroom the teacher may involve the students in setting some goals
and other goals are passed down from the school, district or state levels.
The Baldrige framework is an integrated approach that can't be described on
email. Your question is structured in a linear mode. This is a systemic
approach.
Xxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 09:25:37 -0500
From: Jason Foster <jafoster@engmail.uwaterloo.ca>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Does SimCity use SD?
It appears that the makers of SimCity, generally seen as the most popular
simulation game ever, have turned their attention to education.
http://www.simcity.com/3000/teachers.html
They have put together a series of lesson plans that discuss various aspects of
urban planning.
I don't recall any references to the model(s) that underlie the SimCity engine,
but at a guess SD would be a good candidate. It might be interesting to
see how
the simluation of housing patterns in SimCity compares to the models I remember
seeing in the RoadMaps.
Jason Foster
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: "David Foster" <dfoster@cis.com.mx>
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: How to start?
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999
Dan, So much of the dialogue I saw was related to implementation in the
class room and little of how schools are being run and problems resolved
using SD/ST. The danger we see at the school I work with at this time is
that a model which continues to preach "do as I say, not as I do" mentality
from the adult part of the school.
I would certainly appreciate your sharing of experiences.
David
-----Original Message-----
From: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Date: lunes 22 de noviembre de 1999 15:19
Subject: RE: How to start?
>From: Dan Barcan <dbarcan@cpcs.chtr.k12.ma.us>
>To: 'k-12sd' <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
>Subject: RE: How to start?
>Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999
>
>David: I have done this kind of work at my school, I think. I'm not
>sure about your question. Does the school leadership want to use SD/ST?
>Or are they reluctant to send it on to the kids? Can you clarify?
>Maybe I can be of some help.
>Dan Barcan
>Chelmsford Public Charter School
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: k-12sd [mailto:k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu]
>Sent: Friday, November 19, 1999 1:55 PM
>To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
>Subject: How to start?
>
>
>From: "David Foster" <dfoster@cis.com.mx>
>To: <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
>Subject: How to start?
>Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999
>
>I see many messages requesting information on how to introduce SD in the
>classroom. However at this time I work with a private school to first
>introduce systems thinking to the director and administration staff of
>the
>school. The plan is to introduce SD to students when the school itself
>SD
>and ST in operational areas other than with students.
>
>My question, how is systems thinking to be introduced to students when
>the
>school system itself
>does not apply its lessons to the functions other than classroom? From
>experience of the last few months SD is easily adopted by management
>once
>shown clearly its function within their environment.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
>This is a monitored list for discussion of system dynamics in K-12
>education.
>For past discussions see:
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999
From: "Daniel D Burke" <BURKED@cna.org>
To: <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Mental model
At this relatively early stage in the work I think that models at all
levels are appropriate. I have produced some models on the use of mentors
and workshops as components in a professional development system and am
also playing with models of learning and models of how the broad pieces of
the system (curriculum, instruction, assessment, etc.) fit together. I
know other folks are doing the same kinds of things.
Dan Burke
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: KCStarguy@aol.com
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999
Subject: sims, sheets and stella
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
I have been working with many sims for several years . As part of my research
to make them more useable, I have designed sim sheets for simcity2000,
simfarm and simlife to maximize their use in the classroom, for students and
teachers. I feel they do a better job that than that put out by maxis for
several reasons.
I do not believe that simcity3000 is a great enhancement and is not
technically a better product then simcity2000.
I am planning to try to integrate the sims with the use of stella and
possible NIH/scion.
If you would like more information please contact me.
Dr. Eric Flescher (KCStarguy@aol.com) Project S.I.M. (Simulations,
Interdisciplinary internet and Metacognitive activities)
In a message dated 11/23/99 1:31:33 PM, k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu writes:
<< Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 09:25:37 -0500
From: Jason Foster <jafoster@engmail.uwaterloo.ca>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Does SimCity use SD?
It appears that the makers of SimCity, generally seen as the most popular
simulation game ever, have turned their attention to education.
http://www.simcity.com/3000/teachers.html
They have put together a series of lesson plans that discuss various aspects
of
urban planning.
I don't recall any references to the model(s) that underlie the SimCity
engine,
but at a guess SD would be a good candidate. It might be interesting to
see how
the simluation of housing patterns in SimCity compares to the models I
remember
seeing in the RoadMaps.
Jason Foster
xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999
From: Marion Brady <mbrady@digital.net>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: What's the Point?
> I doubt that we will ever reach universal agreement [on the overarching
>aim for
> general education], but I don't think it is a hopeless muddle. Many of the
> purposes you have listed are really different ways of saying the same thing.
Dan,
Many, but not all. All that's required is that just ONE aim be widely
accepted but different from the others for my point to be made. There are
in fact
several on the list which differ greatly, each calling for distinctive
instructional materials and methodology.
I attribute many of the problems in education -- the constant cycle of
fads,
the vague sense that something is fundamentally amiss, the public's lukewarm
support, the myriad strategies for reform, the heavy reliance on extrinsic
motivators, the average kid's mere toleration for schooling, the massive
loss from
adult memory of what's taught -- in large part to the institution's lack of an
agreed-upon, broadly understood, defensible statement of purpose, a
statement so
clear that every lesson's appropriateness could be judged in the light of
it. Not
only does the educational establishment have no such aim, it appears to
think it's
unnecessary.
> .....In any case, the NSF reforms do have a set of specific goals:
>science and
> mathematics literacy as defined by the standards....
I'm not a fan of "Standards" as the word is now being defined. The
Standards
movement is freezing in place a conception of the nature of knowledge that is
fundamentally wrong. Just about every scholar down through the ages who's
thought
about the matter has insisted that all knowledge is part of a single,
systemically
integrated conceptual framework.........
Harlan Cleveland: „It is a well-known scandal that our whole educational
system is geared more to categorizing and analyzing patches of knowledge
than to
threading them together.‰
Neil Postman: "There is no...principle that unifies the school
curriculum and
furnishes it with meaning."
Robert Stevens: "We have lost sight of our responsibility for synthesizing
learning."
Buckminster Fuller: "American education has evolved in such a way it
will be
the undoing of the society."
John I. Goodlad: "The division into subjects and periods encourages a
segmented rather than an integrated view of knowledge. Consequently, what
students are asked to relate to in schooling becomes increasingly
artificial, cut
off from the human experiences subject matter is supposed to reflect."
We've settled on a random assortment of fields of knowledge, polled
today's
experts in those fields, distilled their views, and are now telling kids they'd
better be familiar with those distillations or they're in serious trouble.
Such a static approach to knowledge might be OK if the world never
changed and
this generation's answers were guaranteed to speak to the next generation's
questions. But the world IS changing. Our MAJOR responsibility, therefore, is
surely to teach kids not just how to store existing knowledge, but how to
generate
NEW knowledge.
That process involves the discovery that aspects of reality not previously
thought to be related actually are related. When reality is
compartmentalized as
we now compartmentalize it, not only can such relationships not be seen,
kids walk
away from the whole experience of schooling not even knowing that
generating and
exploring relationship hypotheses is what real education is mostly all about.
What many participants on this list are attempting -- modelling
aspects of
that reality "out there" systemically -- is a very good thing. The effort
should
eventually lead to the realization that disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity
aren't up to the task, that the familiar disciplines ignore much content of
great
importance, and that perceiving reality systemically is the key to establishing
criteria for determining relative degrees of importance of content.
But what this effort won't do is help kids model what's "IN there," their
system for PROCESSING knowledge. They have a culturally imposed "master mental
filing system" that determines what of the undiffentiated mass of information
pouring in from their senses they'll perceive, how they'll value it,
organize it,
store it, retrieve it, manipulate it, and finally integrate it with all other
knowledge.
It's not all that stuff "out there," but their "master mental
organizer" of
that stuff that kids mot need to understand and be able to use -- the "super"
discipline they bring to the effort to make sense of the world and their
experience in it.
The "Standards" don't even hint of the need for that.
> ......preparation for the technological workforce; and preparation for post
> secondary science and mathematics majors....
I think the Standardistos are mistaking means for ends. I see
"preparation
for the technological workforce" as, at the very least, an extremely pedestrian
educational aim, one that comes dangerously close to putting people in the
service
of industry, the economy and other social institutions rather than putting such
institutions in the service of people. Surely our goal ought to be to help
kids
become as human, as civilized, as complex, as interesting as possible. Our
near-worship of market forces notwithstanding, there's more to being human than
fitting into some technological niche.
Preoccupied by the task of trying to teach our subjects better this
year than
we taught them last year, we're not stepping back to ask fundamental questions.
Several days ago, my newspaper, The Orlando Sentinel, ran a long feature story
about a local school using innovative techniques to teach algebra to
dropout-prone
kids.
I'd like to hear a broad dialog on the question,"Is learning algebra
the best
use of kids' time?"
There are dozens of similar questions we should be asking but are not.
Answering them wisely begins with a clear understanding of what we're
ultimately
trying to do.
Marion
--
SUPRADISCIPLINARY, SEAMLESS CURRICULA
http://digital.net/~mbrady/
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: "Hussein Waljee" <Hussein_Waljee@i2.com>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Introduction
Hello everyone...
I hope this is the correct forum in which to be asking, but I am looking for
leads into any modelling efforts for understanding youth development.
The kinds of insight I would look for are:
- What kinds of factors influence self-esteem, and how will that affect
outwardly action
- How do those actions reinforce or counteract the behaviour of self-esteem
- How can we influence the development of a subset of these youth to lead to
greater success and "fulfillment"?
I expect a lot of people are interested in factors influencing the trends
we are
seeing in youth today... As one of the leaders of a minority community in
Canada, we are trying to find direction for the support and programming we
should provide to our youth... I hope to engage system dynamics insight in
conceiving the actual game plan, and also to indirectly ground our thinking by
getting our leaders to go through the exercise of trying to identify the forces
at play...
Any help and leads you could provide would be great -- especially findings from
modelling/brainstorming activity along with some attempt to validate those
findings with data (qualitative or quantitative). Primary sources on youth
development, if particularly lucid, would also be appreciated so I can spend my
time effectively and compose with a well-informed game plan.
Thank you in advance for your support. Please e-mail me directly, as I am not
on the mailing list. (If that is a taboo, would someone kindly send me a
polite
message urging me to join the e-mail list? I am somewhat worried about the
volume of e-mail flowing...)
Regards --
Hussein
xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999
From: Marion Brady <mbrady@digital.net>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Role of student in the system
> .....The interesting thing that we have found is that younger children "think
> this way naturally".....
Perhaps you'd enjoy my considerable elaboration of this idea. If you're
interested in following up, just click on the link below, then on the big
button
labelled "A Seamless Curriculum."
Marion
--
SUPRADISCIPLINARY, SEAMLESS CURRICULA
http://digital.net/~mbrady/
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999
From: Marion Brady <mbrady@digital.net>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Mental model
> From: Lascelles Anderson <lascelle@uic.edu>
> Subject: Re: Mental model
>
> I have read with some interest the dialogue on "how the school system
> works," and wonder whether it is useful to start at the extraordinarily
> difficult level of trying to model the entire system rather than at the
> level of some specific generic problem.....
My choice of "specific generic problem" is the curriculum. I begin there
because that's what schooling is all about.
More specifically:
PROBLEM: Knowledge is exploding, but no guidelines tell us which new
knowledge is
important, or which old knowledge can safely be discarded to make room for the
new. We're teaching what we think is important . . .but the main reason we
think
it's important is because it's what we were taught.
PROBLEM: Whole new disciplines are appearing, but the system isn't open to
them.
The familiar courses and subjects ignore vast and important areas of knowledge
that lie outside the traditional disciplines.
PROBLEM: A coherent education will be guided by a clear, overarching
purpose ˜ a
shared vision of what's being attempted. There's no agreement on such a purpose
for general education.
PROBLEM: The content of the general education curriculum is made up mostly of
"expert" opinion in various fields of knowledge. Intellectually, there
isn't much
that students can do with this content except try to remember it. The main