Activity 12: Modeling Interconnected Systems Part 2

Cameron Weiner, Middlebury College
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Initial Publication Date: April 24, 2024

Summary

Students research how a food is created, transported, and supplied to people. Once they understand the way the food is made, students create a LOOPY diagram that shows the different stages the ingredients and food move through to get to people. Then the student uses the structured brainstorming taught in Activity 11 to identify the direct and indirect ways water is used in the system they created. The students add these ideas to the LOOPY diagram. Finally, the students reflect on what they learned by creating the LOOPY diagram.

This activity is the 12th activity in a Systems Thinking module designed for middle school science courses. These activities are designed to provide middle school students with the tools to assess complex issues of sustainability holistically. The series begins with activities that introduce systems thinking vocabulary and systems diagrams, then moves to activities addressing how rates, equilibrium, and feedback loops contribute to changes in systems over time. The module concludes with several activities that require students to assess an issue of sustainability through a variety of interconnected human and natural systems. The activities begin using simple water system examples such as the classroom sink and the school water supply system. Then the activities progress to more complex system examples with a greater focus on the interconnectedness between systems, ultimately assessing the issue of water scarcity in the United States through many connected human and natural systems like agriculture, energy, and the water cycle.

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Context

Audience

This activity is intended for a middle school science course. Materials presented here are designed to be implemented in a remote learning environment, either as part of an entirely online or hybrid course.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Students need some background information on production and supply systems of goods in the U.S. that is provided in Activity 11. Students also need basic web-based research skills.

How the activity is situated in the course

This activity is designed to be taught following Activity 11: Interconnected Systems Part 1. When taught in conjunction, Activities 11, 12, and 13 introduce students to systems contributing to water use and water scarcity in the United States, prompting students to generate solutions to water stress based on their systems analysis.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

"Students research how a food is created, transported, and supplied to people.
Students create a LOOPY diagram showing how a food is created, transported, and supplied to people.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

  • Students use structured brainstorming to identify and show how water is used in their diagram.
  • Students reflect on what they learned from researching and creating their LOOPY diagram.

Other skills goals for this activity

Description and Teaching Materials

Materials

Activity Description (total time: 45 min)

This activity is designed to be explained in class and completed outside of class. The accompanying Project Introduction powerpoint is optional, but offers some structure for instructors to introduce the project. The descriptions below provide steps and examples of how the instructor might explain the project instructions.

Part 1 - Project Instructions (5 min)

The instructor asks students to open the student handout and explains the activity.
The instructor might say something like this to introduce the activity:
"Now that we have a basic understanding of how to brainstorm about water usage for a very simple product like an apple, we are going to go a little deeper and model a whole system from the ingredients (like the apple seed) to you. For this project everyone will pick some type of food that uses multiple ingredients, or if you're really ambitious something new like a t-shirt or water bottle. Once you have picked out this item, you will research what the item is made from and how the materials are processed, transported, and distributed to get the item to you. his step is very similar to the exercise we did in  LOOPY in Activity 11 but for a larger system!"

"Many of the food or items you want to pick will have more than one ingredient or material. If the item you pick has more than two ingredients or materials, pick the two most important ones to show in your diagram. For example if I were to choose to diagram a hamburger, I would just pick the ground beef patty and bun."

Part 2 - Researching the Food (25 min)

The instructor asks students to complete part A of the student handout. Students take 20 minutes to research how their item is created then 5 minutes to create a LOOPY diagram that shows the different steps taken to create, transport, and supply the item to the student.

  • The LOOPY link to a baseline diagram is provided in the student handout.

Part 3 - Adding water use to LOOPY Systems Diagram(15 min)

The instructor asks students to complete part B of their handout and add water usage at with structured brainstorming that moves from direct uses of water to more abstract and indirect uses of water. Students can complete this portion of the activity at home. Students can also be encouraged to work with other students to help each other brainstorm about different ways water could be used in their new systems.

Finally, students reflect on what they learned from the activity by answering the questions in part C of the student handout:

  1. How did creating a loopy diagram help you understand how water is used in the food system?
  2. Limitations: Which water uses did you include? Which did you exclude? Why?
  3. Limitations: How could you improve this diagram?


Student Handout Activity 12 (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 12kB May2 21) 
LOOPY Instructional Video (Quicktime Video 41.9MB May2 21) 

Teaching Notes and Tips

The goal of having the students pick something made from multiple materials is that they will see how things either that use animal products, processing, and are shipped from far away places use more water.


Assessment

The student should show the ability to identify several ways that water that touches the item throughout the process and water that people and machines use throughout the process. The student should also show that they thought about more abstract ways water is used in the process. The student won't have space or time to understand the system entirely but should show that they followed the structured brainstorming steps outlined in activity 11.

References and Resources

This systems thinking module is based on the undergraduate Systems Thinking module on InTeGrate, created by Lisa A. Gilbert, Deborah S. Gross & Karl J. Kreutz. This feedback loop activity relates to Unit 3: Modeling a System.

Background on US Agricultural Systems for Instructors: A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System

Background on Changes in Water Resource Availability and Connection to Climate Change for instructors: Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment, See Chapter 3: Water Resources

Systems Thinking Vocabulary Glossary

Why teach systems thinking in Middle School?

"Appendix G - Crosscutting Concepts." 2013. Next Generation Science Standards. https://www.nextgenscience.org/sites/default/files/Appendix%20G%20-%20Crosscutting%20Concepts%20FINAL%20edited%204.10.13.pdf

Learn about why we should teach Systems Thinking in Earth Science:

Learn more about teaching systems thinking:

Learn more about systems thinking:

  • Meadows, Donella H., and Diana Wright. 2008. Thinking in Systems: A Primer. White River Junction, Vt: Chelsea Green Pub. https://wtf.tw/ref/meadows.pdf