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During the summer of 1986 a group of 15 racially diverse students entering 10th and 11th grades participated in an intensive 4-week course taught by members of an NSF-funded project. The project's goals were to develop science and mathematics curricula based on the principles of systems dynamics. The course was a test of materials intended to provide students with methods for problem solving by introducing them to modeling software and concepts of systems thinking. Students engaged in a study of levels and rates, causal-loop diagrams, feedback, exponential growth, exponential decay, goal-seeking behavior, s-shaped behavior, and oscillating behavior by modeling real-life problems. Some of the problems that students worked on dealt with population growth, bank balances, temperature cooling, capacitor discharging, city growth, and predator-prey relationships. Nine boys and six girls volunteered to participate in the project. Evaluation of the course consisted of pre- and posttesting, observations, administration of a student background questionnaire, and interviews with students at the conclusion of the course. All questions in the categories tested showed a significant gain in correct responses from the pretest to the posttest. It was concluded that some transfer of skills was shown. (CW)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert