Educator's
Corner
Since
1985, HPS has supported educators wishing to build their students' Systems
Thinking skills. We are fortunate to collaborate with several wonderful
organizations and individuals that are as passionate about that work as we are!
Each month in The Connector we will use the Educators Corner to describe
available resources for facilitating your use of the STELLA software to meet
your Educator's Corner goals.
Two Great Resources
Because this is the first issue, we want to introduce two organizations that
can provide you with practical advice on making STELLA an active part of your
curriculum: The Creative Learning Exchange and The Waters Foundation. Below you
can read about both of these organizations, including their mission, their
expertise, and how to contact them. We highly recommend you contact them if you
haven't already!
The Waters Foundation Systems Thinking and
Dynamic Modeling Program
Over the past twelve years, a collaborative network of educators from 12 school
and district sites throughout the United States has coalesced, with support
from the Waters Foundation, in an effort to apply the powerful concepts and
tools of systems thinking and dynamic modeling (ST/DM) in K-12 classrooms and
schools. These educators have thoughtfully coupled their experience
incorporating best educational practices with resources made available through
the Waters Foundation in order to develop, apply, refine, document and
disseminate lessons and work practices that incorporate ST/DM methodologies to
student and adult learning. An ever-increasing amount of this work can be
accessed through the Waters Foundation's web site at
http://www.watersfoundation.org  .
The Creative Learning Exchange
The Creative Learning Exchange was established in
1991 as a non-profit organization to support and promote the use of systems
thinking and dynamic modeling in Kindergarten through Twelfth grade. The
Creative Learning Exchange has a three-fold purpose.
-
Gather
curricula and information from those who are actively involved as teachers or
administrators in schools using systems thinking and dynamic modeling.
-
Facilitate
communication among teachers and schools to help create a network of schools
using systems education.
-
Help
schools get started in systems education by providing information and informal
coaching.
There
is a wealth of teacher created curriuculm and teachers' insights available on
the CLE website, collected over the past twelve years. A good way to get
started might be to download the CLE Introductory packet from the web (http://www.clexchange.org )
and to register to receive their newsletter. Lees Stuntz, the CLE Director, is
available to answer questions via email (stuntzln@clexchange.org)
or by phone at (978) 287-0070.
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