Systems Ball Toss
At a Glance
Discipline
- Environmental science
Instructional Level
- University
Tasks in Workflow
Social Plane(s)
- Whole Class
Type of Tasks
- Solving problems
- Writing
- Experimenting & conducting inquiry
Technical Details
Class size
- Small (20-49)
Time
- Single class period (< 90 mins)
Instructional Purpose
- Application & knowledge building
Overview
This activity is intended to demonstrate the complexity of systems. Students participate in a ball toss exercise and then build a systems diagram of the ball toss guided by the instructor.
Before class, the instructor brings three tennis balls and a timer. The instructor also reviews system diagrams. In class, the students participate in a ball toss through several rounds.
With each round, the ball toss becomes more complex as first the students are asked to complete the game in a shorter time and then two additional balls are added to the game. The addition of two extra balls creates chaos which demonstrates the complexity of systems with many moving parts.
At the end, students write all of the limitations of the activity such as lag time, bottlenecks, relationships, etc.. The students (with guidance from the instructor) draw a systems diagram related to the ball activity on the board.
The strategy used in this activity is game-based instruction. As students participate in this activity, it allows them to find solutions for complex systems in real-time and takes an otherwise abstract topic from paper to the real-world. This activity is used for a class size of 20 students.
Instructional Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Construct a systems diagram
- Explain how increasing the number of moving parts in a system greatly increases its complexity
Workflow & Materials
Activity Workflow
Contributor's Notes
Benefits
Challenges
Tips
Benefits
This activity gets students into a different headspace; they are up on their feet, developing a solution ME real-time with the group and the instructor, and the activity is fun.
Challenges
For instructor, drawing the diagram in real time, can be difficult depending on what the students say; the diagram will be different each time. The instructor really needs to clearly understand how to draw systems diagrams for this activity to be effective.
Tips
Practice drawing a systems diagram of the ball toss beforehand.
Applied Strategies
Published: 18/09/2018
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