Recently I had the pleasure of attending a very exciting event called Dynamiquest. This annual event for students, is organized by the Creative Learning Exchange, and took place this year at Worcester Polytechnical Institute. Students came together to showcase projects they have created using Systems Thinking and STELLA. This year there were 44 students who participated, ranging in age from elementary to high school. Their projects covered a wide range of topics from a college savings model, to a model of how rumors spread, to a fish population model. The students presented their work to teachers and system dynamics experts. The enthusiasm from the students was remarkable. They each had thoroughly researched their topics and put a lot of thought into how the system worked. They were eager to share their insights and ideas with others. The students presented to each other as well, and provided great feedback to one another.

One student from the Bromfield School said his favorite part was, "Sharing our model and experiences with other people. It was also excellent to learn how other people applied their models to the real world because it helps us develop ideas." Another student's response was, "Learning about STELLA and how to use it. Since I had never been to Dynamiquest before I enjoyed learning what other students did, so I could get ideas for my project next year, and to get a better sense of what STELLA can be used for." I think we have some future ST experts brewing!

Two 4th graders from Carlisle Public Schools described their favorite parts as, "I loved presenting our project at the conference...I was surprised how many adults wanted to try our model. I also felt proud that even though we were the youngest ones at the conference, our project was as good as many of the others." When asked if these two would like to do another project using systems they enthusiastically responded, "Absolutely! I love being challenged and using systems tools, especially the STELLA software. It allows us to think about other things, like our college savings model, that we could apply systems tools to. We hope we have the opportunity to go to Dynamiquest again next year. We saw a lot of models presented that had to do with the environment, we would love to do something like that next year."

All in all it was a great day! Seeing students' excitement and motivation to learn and share is what teachers dream about. Through teaching systems and using the STELLA software students become engaged and challenged to truly understand concepts and ideas, not just memorize facts. Real learning goes on. Next year I hope to join the group for yet another Dynamiquest!

If your school has a systems thinking event that you would like to share with HPS, please email or call me at joyrichmond@hps-inc.com , or 603-643-9636 ext.122. I would love to hear about how your students are using STELLA, and maybe I could even come visit your school too!