Subject: 12/10/04 WSJ Article on How Schoolchildren Learn

Posted by Elisabeth Roberts on 12/17/2004
In Reply To:12/10/04 WSJ Article on How Schoolchildren Learn Posted by Sandy Harlow on 12/11/2004

Message:

I've been lurking in this discussion for a couple of weeks, learning a lot! I'd like to pose a couple of questions/challenges to the group (that is, if anyone is left at the computer as we get near the
holidays!)

Responding to the following statement:

>- Diagrams may never mature to the level of computer simulation;
>HOWEVER, group leaders must be skilled enough to avoid creating
>blackboard structures
that are blatantly incorrect.

1I want to respectfully challenge the idea that a diagram or visual representation of a system is less "mature" than a computer simulation. I'd also like to propose that there are often as many "correct" models as there are system modelers, since we all bring different assumptions, especially inferences about the system we're modeling, as well as limitations of our tools (such as computer calculational power). I try to emphasize the framework that models typically develop from many iterations of approximation, and that our responsibility to systems learners is to make clear the level of confidence we can have in a particular diagram or model's accuracy to depict the actual system "out there."

Secondly, along the line of what Barry Richmond said, what are the criteria for a "good" systems model? More specifically, as we teach systems thinking with (not "to") teachers and students, what are some essential questions we could ask ourselves that would scaffold the process of building and critiquing models (on or off the computer).
For example, an essential question I've learned this semester is to ask boundaries am I going to set for the system I wish to model? In asking the question "what is a living system?" I have to define if I'm modeling the cellular level, the organism level, or the ecosystem level. Matter and energy flow through all three, but with diffent structures and functions.

Other thoughts and ideas?

Cheers,
Elisabeth Roberts
UA
Tucson

Follow Ups:

12/10/04 WSJ Article on How Schoolchildren Learn - Gallaher Ed 12/19/2004