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Vermont Commons School: Developing Systems Citizens
Joy Richmond
Director of Education
High Performance Systems, Inc.
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I am pleased to share with you highlights of a lively
conversation I had with Rob Skiff, Jeff Potash, and John Heinbokel, three of
the spirited individuals who make the Vermont Commons School (VCS), such a
unique place. To start I will touch on the mission of VCS, then give a little
background of this school, and mention the benefits of their approach. This is
followed by some advice and recommendations for other teachers who are
interested in Systems Thinking, and finally some words about what's in store
for the school's future.
"We are trying to get to a point where kids see things in their life as stocks
and flows and systems; real world stuff. Stuff that's important to the kids,"
commented Heinbokel. This sentiment and the sincere dedication that these three
have are remarkable. They are committed to developing systems citizens, through
helping students become involved in their community as active participants. A
very noble goal. This goal is being reached by arming students with the common
language of System Dynamics to help understand the world around them and tackle
difficult problems.
The Vermont Commons School is composed of grades 7-12, with a total of 65
students and 15 teachers. The school is located in South Burlington, and has
been in operation for 7 years. VCS takes a very unique approach to education.
At its foundation is the idea of Systems. "We think System Dynamics is one of
the most important skills that students are going to need to learn in the next
50 years," stated Skiff. They referred to their school as a type of lab school.
They are always trying new things. There is no blueprint for how this should be
done. They don't teach System Dynamics and Systems Thinking as a separate
class, it is embedded into the classes the students already take. They teach it
as a way to think about what they are already studying; a tool that the
students can use to become better thinkers. Their goal is for systems to be a
common language at the school.
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Joy Richmond is Director of Education at High
Performance Systems. Her background is in Environmental Science, Biology, and
Social Work. She has recently returned from living in Paraguay where she served
as an Education volunteer with the Peace Corps.
Email: joyrichmond@hps-inc.com
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Rob Skiff is the Co-founder of VCS and a
teacher of social sciences. Jeff Potash and John Heinbokel are
Co-Directors of the Center for System Dynamics.
Vermont Commons School
75 Green Mountain Drive
South Burlington, VT 05403
Telephone: 865-8084
Fax: 865-2429
e-mail: bskiffsr@vtcommonsschool.org
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Rob, Jeff, and John saw many benefits to teaching
Systems Thinking and using the STELLA® software. They see System Dynamics as
both an analytical and communicative tool. Teaching kids this language has
helped them to better think about problems, identify leverage points, develop
solutions, and communicate their findings. "We are amazed at the kids ability
to wrestle with real world ideas and concerns, which many students feel are
above their level," Potash remarked.
For the past several years VCS has attended Dynamiquest, which is an event
where students from several schools participate in an exhibition of their
Systems Thinking projects. One year VCS brought 20 kids, including one who was
painfully shy. She was exceptionally quiet and they were shocked to find out
that when presenting her STELLA® model she spoke very eloquently and
articulately about her project and her model. Another year, one of their
students who has to work hard on his academics, went to Dynamiquest and
presented his model on AIDS. Again he did an excellent job presenting to the
coaches and other students at the exhibition. In referring to one of the System
Dynamics coaches who he presented to, (an authority in the SD field) he later
remarked to his teachers, "I think I taught him something." The teachers
commented that several kids with learning disabilities or lower academic
performing students have been reached and turned on by Systems Thinking.
I asked these three experts what they would advise other teachers who are
interested in incorporating Systems Thinking and STELLA® into their classroom.
Their first piece of advice was to identify relatively small steps. Don't try
to do too much at once. They also recommended some resources. The first is the
Demo Dozen, which is a group of 12 simple models spanning various disciplines.
This provides a good overview of some different systems, and a good
introduction to systems modeling. It is free and available for download from
the Creative Learning Exchange (CLE) website,
http://www.clexchange.org 
as well as The Waters Foundation (WF) website,
http://www.watersfoundation.org
. Also available from both of these websites are numerous sample lessons and
articles which introduce Systems Thinking concepts and Systems Modeling.
Another resource is "Modeling Systems Self-Taught", available for download from
both the CLE and WF websites. It is a group of tutorials designed to help K-12
educators learn the conceptual and mechanical foundations of computer
simulation modeling with STELLA®. A free copy of the STELLA® trial can be
downloaded from the HPS website, www.iseesystems.com
. There are also free sample models and articles available on our website.
In closing my conversation with the VCS folks I asked about the future. They
said they plan to keep their school small, no more than 100 students, and they
want to continue to be creative and innovative in the ways in which they
incorporate Systems. They would like to integrate Systems into all of the
disciplines and have it become more of a language of the commons, a habit of
the mind. "We want to create citizens that are actively engaged in the
community." They would also like to be able to disseminate curriculum and
training materials, and provide a site for outreach to the broader educational
community. "We are always looking for other people to play with... collaborate
with," remarked Heinbokel.
They told me that one year at Dynamiquest one of their students got wind that
Barry was the producer of the STELLA® software. He approached Barry at the
conference and said, "thank you." Well, I want to say "thank you" to Rob, Jeff,
and John for keeping Barry's dream alive, and for your inspirational work in
developing System's Citizens!
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