All the following have a common characteristic.

All the following have a common characteristic.

Introduce the concept of modeling and simulation.

This Romeo and Juliet Model was adapted by Geoff McDonnell from Michael J Radzicki (1993) Dyadic processes, tempestuous relationships, and system dynamics, System Dynamic Rev. 9 (1) :79-94

Introduce the concept of modeling and simulation.

All you wanted to do was put a bird feeder in your yard to attract birds and make for a more pleasant morning. And...

The model construction process is actually a balancing loop which endeavors to employ an abstract version of real events to form a model which produces conclusions and behavior which mimic the real events.

What do activities of these images have in common?

The interaction of a population of Moose and Wolves.

The interaction of a population of Moose and Wolves.

All you wanted to do was put a bird feeder in your yard to attract birds and make for a more pleasant morning. And...

This common archetype of systems that include relapse or recidivism allows exploration of the unintended effects of increasing upstream capacity and swamping downstream capacity. The increase in the relapse rate eventually returns to swamp upstream capacity as well. A social welfare example, based on a TANF case study, from How Small System Dynamics Models Can Help the Policy Process. N. Ghaffarzadegan, J. Lyneis, GP Richardson. System Dynamics Review 27,1 (2011) 22-44 Conference version at http://bit.ly/HlxtZj

While these pictures represent very different things there is a common essence.

All you wanted to do was put a bird feeder in your yard to attract birds and make for a more pleasant morning. And...

Balancing Loop with Stock & Flow Diagram.

All you wanted to do was put a bird feeder in your yard to attract birds and make for a more pleasant morning. And...

This is a model depicting the interactions of the Aesop's Fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."

While these pictures represent very different things there is a common essence.

The structure responsible for rabbit population growth.

There are three types of models most commonly used.

Development of a model to understand why we don't all get rich from investment accounts.

What do activities of these images have in common?

The structure responsible for rabbit population growth.

When endeavoring to develop an understanding of the nature of something it is generally useful to create a model of some type to aid in surfacing that understanding.