There's actually more to filling a swimming pool with water than you might realize.

Introduce the concept of modeling and simulation.

All the following have a common characteristic.

The interaction of a population of Moose and Wolves.

All the following have a common characteristic.

Little Red Riding Hood walking through the woods to Grandma's house. How long will it take?

Consider the following "Sustaining the Forest" model intended to provide another example of how unexpected the behavior of a web of extended interactions can be.

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.

Introduce the concept of modeling and simulation.

Consider the following "Sustaining the Forest" model intended to provide another example of how unexpected the behavior of a web of extended interactions can be.

The interaction of a population of Moose and Wolves.

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

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

Consider the following "Sustaining the Forest" model intended to provide another example of how unexpected the behavior of a web of extended interactions can be.

This model is derived from the paper "Nobody Ever Gets Credit for Fixing Problems that Never Happened: Creating and Sustaining Process Improvement" by Nelson P. Repenning and John D Sterman. See Insight 752 for a causal loop version of this model.

When one undertakes to create a model there are a number of guidelines that are considered essential for consideration if there is to be a success with the model.

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

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

The interaction of a population of Moose and Wolves.

Consider the following "Sustaining the Forest" model intended to provide another example of how unexpected the behavior of a web of extended interactions can be.

From Jay Forrester 1971 book World Dynamics, the earlier, simpler version of the World 3 Limits to Growth Model. Adapted by Geoff McDonnell from Mark Heffernan's ithink version at Systemswiki.org.

New Learning tend to reduce Outdated Thinking, Communicating & Learning though our Outdated Thinking, Communicating & Learning inhibits new learning. The question is then how do we break this cycle. Adopted from "An Introduction to Systems Thinking with STELLA" by Barry Richmond.

There are three types of models most commonly used.