The properties and functions of complex systems apply across a variety of domains of science and are at the heart of the solutions to many global crises facing the world today. As such, understanding of complex systems has been increasingly recognized as a core goal of science education. Learning about complexity-related concepts and phenomena is…

Structure-Behavior-Function (SBF) thinking considers the different levels of a system in terms of structures, behaviors, and functions, and how these are interconnected (Goel et al. 1996). This article presents an example of helping middle school students use SBF thinking to learn about ecosystems using an aquarium. Students can use an aquarium as…

Representations such as drawings, graphs, and computer simulations, are central to learning and doing science. Furthermore, ongoing success in science learning requires students to build on the representations and associated practices that they are presumed to have learned throughout their schooling career. Without these practices, students have…

This paper outlines the Teaching Research approach to designing instructional simulation systems, a three-phase approach which involves (1) determining what to teach, (2) determining how best it might be taught, and (3) validating the system. An effort is made to "expose the vital decision points" in each of the 13 steps listed: (1) Define the…

Reviews both econometric and instructional process models of education and training and suggests future directions for these models. A 44-item bibliography is included. (Author/DN)

Suggestions are offered providing for job observation of employees in an office, a study of business forms, actual work experience, writing behavioral objectives, and simulation. (MU)

A management education planning approach called Computer-Assisted Subject Area (CASA) has been conceptualized as a framework for viewing, evaluating, and recording efforts to improve the effectiveness of a subject area to be integrated within an overall curriculum. CASA is a generalized set of models which feature a hierarchy of activities in…

This handbook is a practical guide containing background reading and classroom exercises on future studies for elementary and secondary teachers. The book begins with a rationale for future-oriented education and a discussion of the objectives of a futuristics curriculum. Part II, which comprises the major portion of the document, contains 22…

This article describes a 2-hour experiential simulation that helps students understand (a) the challenge of even simple organizational changes, (b) the importance of communication between change agents and organizational members, and (c) the source of resistance to organizational change efforts. Teams of students compete to process the most…

Summary descriptions of selected urban simulations and games that have been developed outside the Institute For The Future are presented. The operating characteristics and potential applications of each model are described. These include (1) the history of development, (2) model and player requirements, (3) a description of the environment being…

This document contains ten working papers on educational alternatives, which were presented at a regional conference attended by 24 educational decisionmakers from eight Southeast Asian countries. The papers touch on such topics as the systems approach to alternatives, alternative objectives, the technology of education, alternative teaching…

It is time that sociology made use of the increasingly popular teaching device of linking computer simulation and gaming. It is needed because in teaching courses in urban sociology, human ecology, and urban planning, we have found that: a) most class exercises present the community as a statis phenomenon; b) there is no quick and easy way to…

This report describes design techniques, areas of effective application, and research directions in educational simulations. The five chapters contain (1) a review of recent literature; (2) an overview of the field of simulation including definitions and some of the rationales for using simulation in instruction; (3) an outline of the design…

Teaching aids, properly chosen and skillfully presented, should provide a variety of instructional methods and enhance the amount of actual learning which occurs. In order to help the teacher choose the best teaching aid for a given instructional task, a systems approach to media selection is outlined, and a checklist of questions is presented to…