System Dynamics Institute

Why Systems Dynamic Modeling?

“Model building is central to our understanding of real-world phenomena… Computer modeling enables each of us to wrest out the mental model we have of a particular phenomenon, to augment it, elaborate it and then to do something we cannot otherwise do, to run it, to let it yield the inevitable dynamic consequences hidden in the structure of the model.” (Hannon, B. and Matthias, R. Modeling Dynamic Systems, 2001)

To address the urgent need of enhancing our capacity to make decisions on the increasingly complex problems that we face as a society, the educational system must provide students with new intellectual techniques that expand their problem-solving process and promote creative thinking. System dynamics is a modeling and computer simulation approach designed to do precisely that. System dynamics offers:

· a language to facilitate interdisciplinary communication
· a set of thinking skills to simplify complexity
· tools to model and simulate dynamic systems
· computer programs that guide the user in the construction, simulation and visualization of models
· a conceptual framework to organize human intervention on systems

Effective systems dynamic modeling provides a high level of understanding of the interaction of the parts and the behavior of the system as a whole. Developing the students’ capacity for model building is accomplished by having them actually construct the models and perform the simulations. The interaction between the model builder, the computer and the model consumers has the potential to enhance and improve our mental models of reality. The modeling of dynamic systems provides for a better task distribution between our brain and the computer, one in which each does what it does best: the brain conceptualizes and the computer shows the implications of our conceptions.


The Systems Dynamic Institute

To foster these interactions and the practice of systems dynamic among Puerto Rico’s higher education faculty members and students, a group of faculty members sponsored by the PR-LSAMP Program have joined efforts to create The Systems Dynamic Institute (SDI). The goal of the Institute is to create a critical mass of practitioners of systems dynamic modeling to transform the teaching and learning culture in our universities.




The SDI Mission

· Promote the integration of systems dynamic modeling into the teaching process in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields
· Build a network of active practitioners of systems dynamic in Puerto Rico
· Disseminate to the academic community the research results and educational practices that make use of the systems dynamic approach
· Apply systems dynamic modeling to the study of environmental and social problems in Puerto Rico
· Publicize/circulate among the general public the systems dynamic way of thinking

SDI Strategies

· Create and maintain in the PR-LSAMP’s web page a site that includes the Institute’s activities, reference materials, and a collection of models that could be easily down loaded and/or simulated through the Internet
· Offer a series of introductory and follow up workshops on systems dynamic to faculty and students from the different universities in Puerto Rico, and to members of special groups
· Provide advice to university faculty on how to integrate the systems dynamic approach to their teaching process
· Generate and disseminate written and digital publications on systems dynamic topics
· Organize and conduct bi-annual meetings on system dynamics research and education applications across the curriculum