Topics Show all

Going Negative on "Negative Feedback"

In the first paper coming out from the Synthesis of Research on Thinking & Learning in the Geosciences, we made the bold assertion that:

Even in the absence of new research on this topic, I am ready to stake my reputation on a simple intervention that I am convinced can greatly improve students' and the public's understanding of the concept of feedback loops. More

Comments (7)

But so Much is Going on at the Same Time

Students come to us from other science classes with experience in thinking about one thing at a time. In fact, one of the hallmarks of the scientific method, they have often been taught, is to isolate out and control one parameter at a time, to set up experiments in which there is one manipulated variable or perhaps two.

Then they show up in Earth Science class, and we want them to think about interactions among many processes and phenomena, all varying over time and space. To get your mind around the water cycle, for example, requires understanding a dozen or so different kinds of reservoirs, and the fluxes among them, and the processes that speed up or slow down each flux. And all of those things are going on at the same time.

In general, humans find it difficult to consider many different processes or phenomena at the same time. We do, however, have one sensory modality that is exceptionally good at processing multiple simultaneous signals. More

Comments (2)

My Catastrophe is Bigger than Your Catastrophe

A week ago, in my journalism seminar we did a student-produced case study on loss of biodiversity: "The Sixth Extinction." Last week, the lunchtime seminar in my research division at Lamont was a report from the annual conference from the [link Association for the Study of Peak Oil.] The newspaper this week is full of the United National Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

I feel as though the scientific community is pulling itself apart, with biologists drawn to to biodiversity loss, geologists drawn to peak oil, chemists and physicists drawn to climate change. Each faction is trying to draw attention of politicians, the public, and media to their favorite impending disaster. More

Comments (5)

Assistant Professors are Like Fish

Cathy wrote here recently of how profoundly a systems approach had "infiltrated her thinking," enabling her to "make sense out of seemingly mystifying behavior" across a range of real-world contexts by thinking in terms of "drivers and feedbacks operating on the various players." This perspective, in turn, enables her to prioritize where to focus her energies and identify ways by which she can effectively influence a system.

I'd like to enthusiastically endorse Cathy's idea that systems thinking is a skill transferable to problems outside of geosciences, and back it up with a real-world example. Ten years ago, I found myself on a writing team comprising myself, an English professor, an astrophysicist, and an institutional research professional trained in social sciences. On and off for two years, we collaborated on what became the Commission on the Status of Women report on Advancement of Women through the Academic Ranks of the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences: Where are the Leaks in the Pipeline?

None of us had scholarly training or expertise in the content of the pipeline report. Instead, we all brought to the table our discipline-appropriate habits of mind and perspectives and expectations for what constitutes evidence or a persuasive argument. The English professor wrote eloquent prose. The social science researcher wanted tables of numbers and statistics. The physics-trained guy wanted graphs. More

Comments (1)

Systems Thinking

Comments (2)