The Shape of Change
By Rob Quaden and Alan Ticotsky with Debra Lyneis
Nathan Walker, Illustrator Creative Learning Exchange, Publisher ©2004
The Shape of Change presents eleven lessons to engage students in grades 3-8. Lessons incorporate games and other hands-on activities to help students observe and understand patterns of behavior and how things change over time. Students draw simple graphs and connection circles as they build their Systems Thinking skills.
Read Overview of Lessons
In its companion book The Shape of Change Stocks & Flows students build upon the lessons of the Shape of Change by creating stock and flow maps to deepen their understanding of why changes occurred. For example:
About the Authors
Rob Quaden and Alan Ticotsky are teachers and Waters Foundation systems mentors in the Carlisle Public Schools in Carlisle, MA. Quaden is an eighth grade algebra teacher and Carlisle’s math curriculum coordinator. Ticotsky is Carlisle’s science curriculum coordinator and a former elementary classroom teacher. As mentors, Quaden and Ticotsky work with their colleagues to develop and implement system dynamics lessons throughout Carlisle’s K-8 curriculum. They also conduct system dynamics training programs for teachers in Carlisle and beyond.
Debra Lyneis works at the Creative Learning Exchange helping teachers publish their system dynamics curriculum materials for other teachers to use. She served on the Carlisle school board.
