Subject: K-12 SD Research

Posted by Tim Lucas on 7/25/2003
In Reply To:K-12 SD Research Posted by Jose Leal on 7/25/2003

Message:

Dear Jose,

K is the place to start.... just great.

I started working with kindergartens with ST back in the early 90's. A place
to start is with the literature - so Linda Booth Sweeney's children stories
are wonderful. I always used If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. My lessons plans
are in Linda's book. Perfect for causal loops. You can draw a series of
pictures (sun comes up, rises in the sky, sets in evening, etc.) on a long narrow
strip of paper (4 feet long) - then tape the ends together with the pictures
inside - hang them from the ceiling in a corner at kid level. They can go over
and put their heads up inside and gently spin their causal loop and explain
what they see, Your science program is a natural for integration - day night,
plants cycles (compost), life cycles, rock cycles, h20 cycle, etc.

Next - stocks and flows. The bathtub metaphor works well. Also building the
concept of the fact that a word represents an idea with different meanings.
As an example - my kids would walk around the building looking for "homes". A
pocket is a home for a pen, a nose is a home for glasses, a closet is a home
for coats... It is a powerful tool. I don't know if you use reading buddies
from an upper grade - but we used to teach our fourth graders an idea like the
' a ____ is a home for ____" and let them help the kids as they searched
for homes. The fourth garders were only recorders and wrote down the little
one's ideas.

I hope a few of the ideas are helpful - be creative...
Please feel free to e-mail directly.

Tim Lucas
Lucasrps@aol.com

Assistant Superintendent
Glen Rock Public Schools (retired as on July 1)
Co-author - Schools That Learn with Peter Senge et al.

Follow Ups:

K-12 SD Research - Jose Leal 7/25/2003