Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000
To: K-12 listserve <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
From: George Richardson <gpr@csc.albany.edu>
Subject: Fwd: Working group "System Dynamics & Systems Thinking" at ICTMT5

>Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 18:51:00 +0100
>From: "Guenther Ossimitz" <guenther.ossimitz@uni-klu.ac.at>
>>Subject: Working group "System Dynamics & Systems Thinking" at ICTMT5
>
>Dear friends of SD related resources and math education,
>
>this is the first announcement of a special "Working Group" at the
>"Fifth International Conference on Technology in Mathematics
>Teaching" (ICTMT5), which will be held in Klagenfurt, Aug 6-9, 2001.
>
>I have the honour to chair this interdisciplinary working group, which
>should bring together experts and practitioners from both mathematics
>didactics and System Dynamics / Systems Thinking fields. I especially
>want to encourage people from the SD/ST community to participate in
>this fascinating interdisciplinary enterprise. For further information
>concerning
>the working group see http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/~gossimit/sdyn/ictmt5sd.html ,
>concerning the whole conference see http://www2.ifi.uni-klu.ac.at/ictmt5/
>
>Please forward this mail to people who might be interested in it. - Thank you!
>
>Greetings
>
>G. Ossimitz
>
>---
>Dr. Guenther Ossimitz
>University of Klagenfurt, Univ.str. 65
>A-9020 Klagenfurt, Austria
>guenther.ossimitz@uni-klu.ac.at
>http://go.just.to/go
-------------------------------------------------------------------
George P. Richardson <G.P.Richardson@Albany.edu>
Chair, Dept. of Public Administration and Policy Ph: 518-442-5258
Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy Fx: 518-442-5298
University at Albany, Albany, NY 12222 <http://www.albany.edu/~gpr>
--------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------

From: "Hans-Peter Hautz" <HansPeterHautz@addcom.de>
To: "k-12sd" <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: a BOTG?
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000

You can see, what BOTG means in the newsletter of Creative Learning
Exchange, Vol. 7, No.5, late Fall 1998.
http://www.clexchange.org/newsletter/CLEx07.5.pdf

Hans-Peter Hautz
Reiterweg 5
55585 Norheim (Germany)

-----------------------

From: salehira@ind.sharif.ac.ir
Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2000
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: SD in Lower Grades

Hi Gene ,
Would you please tell us what do you mean by "BOTG" that you mentioned in
your reply tp Terry?

Thanks,
Neda

----------------------

From: "Gene Stamell" <gstamell@hotmail.com>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: a BOTG?
Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2000

To Neda,
What I meant is a "Behavior Over Time Graph." This is simply a line graph
with Time measured on the horizontal axis. So, for example, if my class
reads a book in which a character changes over the course of weeks or
monoths or years, we might graph that change. We put time on the x-axis and
the characteristic we're measuring (Happiness, Independence, Friendship...)
along the y-axis. Since so many things change as time goes by, it's not
(too!) hard to use BOTG's with children as young as 7 years old, though I
believe 8 is a better starting point.

gene
 
---------------------

Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2000
From: Harry Forster <hforster@strato.net>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: How did YOU get interested?

I am very interested in your reference to a Vygotsky school. I tried to look it up in some search engines but was not successful. Could you tell me more about where the school is.
Thank you

Harry Forster

k-12sd wrote:
Jane Luke wrote:
In the education arena, I have a child with a label of "special ed". He
loves learning but in the fifth grade, he began saying "I give up!". I was
fearful of special ed process of marginalization (and still am..) For the
next three years, he went to a Vygotsky-based school program where he had no
classroom instruction, lesson plans or books. He just interacted throughout
the day with students from ages 6 - 19 years old. This restored his self
confidence and love of learning. And, by the way, he didn't loose any ground
by hanging out in this loosely, loosely structured yet flowing system. He
gained as a contributing member!

-------------------

From: Luke4101@aol.com
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000
Subject: Vygotsky school
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu

Hi Harry, here's a reference of one of his books: Vygotsky, Lev .S., Mind in
Society / The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. He is best
known for the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). I believe his work was
published in English in the 70s. Sudsbury School is Massachusettes is one of
the earlier schools based on a similar philosopy of child-centered learning.
If interested, here is the school link where my son went: <http://www.thenewschool.com/index.html>The New School
Homepage This site has information on methodology. (PS: the new school
never called it "system dynamics" but it was what I saw.... )

Jane Luke

----------------------

Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
From: Jim Adams <jimadams@sevastopol.k12.wi.us>
Subject: a BOTG?

I am a "lurker" who has followed & subscribed to this list for
approximately a year now but I have not contributed.
I was "infected" (introduced) to ST/SD a year ago by a teacher in a
neighboring school that had taken a course from the Waters Center
(John Heinbokel & Jeff Potash). He infected me and I took course 1
and am finishing up course 2. We have since infected a number of
other teachers in our county. I am in my 30th year of teaching high
school social studies and am always looking for ideas and tools that
will help the students understand. I am introducing ST in the US
History courses and Contemporary Social Issues courses that I teach.
3 teachers in this area (myself and 2 from a neighboring school) are
involved in a research grant on integrating technology through ST/SD
modeling.
Our group would be interested in hearing from other teachers who have
used ST/SD in the classroom and how they assess learning.
In response to a previous post re: BOTGs in the CLE newsletter. They
can be accessed via their FTP site (see below):
ftp://www.clexchange.org/newsletter/CLEx07.5.pdf
The CLE newsletter mentioned is the Late Fall 1998, Volume 7, Number
5 . The CLE
http://www.clexchange.org/ is a great source of material that has
been created by teachers and used by teachers in the classroom. You
will find lots of great material there.

All the best.
Jim
--
James R. Adams
Social Studies Department
School District of Sevastopol
4550 Highway 57
Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
920.743.6282 extension 160
jimadams@sevastopol.k12.wi.us
http://www.sevastopol.k12.wi.us/hs/ssteachers.html (Social Studies Homepage)
http://www.sevastopol.k12.wi.us/hs/sysdyn.html (System Dynamics Homepage)

---------------------------

From: Aart Jan Klok <aklok@sbd-cn-kampen.nl>
To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: Vygotsky school
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000

My name is Aart Jan Klok and I'm from Holland. Since I read the book of
Peter Senge: Schools that learn, I'm interested in ST. In Holland we have about 60 schools
working in a Vygotskian setting. The concept is called: basic development. And it is meant
for 4 to 12 y. old pupils. If I read the homepage of The New School, I agree with most of the
statements, except that the curriculum is a fully individualized one. >From the philosophy of
the school that statemant is not in touch with other ideas like working, learning together als adults and children.
I'm glad to participate in this forum. I'm working for a school advice center (Centraal Nederland)
and I'm very interested in new ways in teaching, in which children play a vital role.
Aart Jan Klok
<mailto:aklok@sbd-cn-kampen.nl>aklok@sbd-cn-kampen.nl