From: "Alison Squire" <alisonsqu@hotmail.com>

To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu

Subject: Re: Introduction

Date: Sat, 02 Jun 2001

James,

Its great to know another UK teacher interested in Systems Thinking in Education.

I am training as a Science teacher this year in Hertfordshire but prior to that was a lecturer in Systems Thinking in the University of Hertfordshire Business School.

I am trying to find time to make the link between the two and am really interested in seeing this in UK schools.

Get in touch if you think we could help each other. - <mailto:AlisonSqu@hotmail.com>AlisonSqu@hotmail.com

Alison

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From: Nancy Maville <nmaville@hps-inc.com>

To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu

Subject: STELLA Workshop Announcement

Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001

Based on the posting we received for the StarLogo workshop announcement we would like to submit the following for posting on the k-12 list serve:

An invitation…

High Performance Systems, Inc. will be holding its annual "Introduction to Systems Thinking with the STELLA Software" workshop for Educators this summer and we would like to invite you to attend. The purpose of the workshop is to enrich the learning experience of students by helping teachers develop curriculum materials using the STELLA software, and/or learn how to use the wealth of materials that are already available. The mechanics of the STELLA software are easy to master. The challenge is building an understanding of the associated Systems Thinking concepts, and developing fluency with STELLA's icon-based language. Teachers have discovered that the best way to lay a foundation for efficient ongoing development of these competencies is at a concentrated workshop session. Each summer for the last 15 years, we have held such a session expressly for Educators. This year, we will be holding it at a beautiful lake resort nestled in the green mountains of Vermont. The session runs from July 16-19 (1/2 day on the 19th). The resort at which we're holding the session has given us very attractive room rates-which include breakfast, lunch and dinner. For more information on the content and costs of the Workshop, please visit our website at:

or call/email our Conference coordinator, Debra Gonzales, at 800-332-1202,

We hope to see you there!

Below you will find some words from a "Teacher of the Year" that describes her experience with the STELLA 

software and our workshop offerings, and the associated student-directed approach to learning.

"The study of the dynamic behavior in our world has never been more relevant and critical to understand. In the 31 years I have taught math, I believe the most important topic I have taught my students is how to begin to understand the complex connections that lead to certain behaviors. (I start this with high school freshmen.) Before the creation of a truly exquisite piece of software, as I consider STELLA to be, it would not have occurred to me to try to teach high school students how to analyze problems that would have required sophisticated math to grasp. But computers afford students a chance to test their ideas in real-time. And STELLA's visual-based structures allow "average" students a chance to play with powerful concepts. In preparing them for their post-secondary work, I can think of no more important tool.

A group of us, high school teachers of math, science, literature, and social studies (in Portland, Oregon), have played with and taught our classes using the STELLA software for nearly 10 years. It has broadened each of us and truly changed the way we teach! As we continue to increase our understanding, we try to get only two instructors to teach us each year-Dr. Barry Richmond (HPS) and Dr. George Richardson (SUNY)-because they are consummate teachers. Their workshops are on the top of our lists of best workshops we have ever attended.

I would be happy to show you some of the work my students have been able to produce over the past 6 years. Before this year I taught (11 years) in an inner city school serving a blue-collar clientele. Less than 30% of our students attended 4-year universities. The work produced by these students is very impressive. Others of us have just as impressive work to share from college-prep schools."

NOTE:  Each year for the last six years, Portland Oregon's public schools have conducted a STELLA-based Fair (they call it SymBowl). This year, nearly 300 students submitted projects that ranged from understanding Portland's traffic problems, to how a bowl of soup cools, to the management of the AIDS epidemic in Africa, to the oppression of Polish Jews by Nazi Germany. Students complete written reports on the topics they have chosen to investigate, and also present their work in both poster and plenary sessions. The fantastic success of this process has spawned a similar one (called DynamiQuest) on the East Coast, centered in the Concord-Carlisle schools in Massachusetts.

High Performance Systems, Inc.

45 Lyme Road, Suite 300, Hanover, NH 03755-1221

Tel. 603-643-9636 - Fax. 603-643-9502 - <http://www.hps-inc.com/>http://www.hps-inc.com

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Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2001

From: Niall Palfreyman <niall.palfreyman@fh-weihenstephan.de>

To: k-12sd <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>

Subject: Reply to an Introduction

Alison Squire schrieb:

James,

Its great to know another UK teacher interested in Systems Thinking in

Education. I am training as a Science teacher this year in Hertfordshire but

prior to that was a lecturer in Systems Thinking in the University of

Hertfordshire Business School.

I am trying to find time to make the link between the two and am

really interested in seeing this in UK schools.

Hi Alison, hi James,

I am a UK teacher, but now based in Germany. I teach maths, physics,

computing, artificial intelligence and model-building in the

Bioinformatics department at Weihenstephan University of Applied

Sciences in Freising, Germany. I am always on the lookout for ways of

integrating the various parts of the curriculum I teach, and would be

very interested in swapping ideas on SD/ST in Science teaching.

Best wishes,

Niall Palfreyman.

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End of June, 2001