Global change instruction module
wins prize for innovation

Arthur Few, Rice University, has won the 1993 EDUCOM Higher 
Education Software and Curriculum Award for Best Natural Sciences 
Curriculum Innovation in the Atmospheric Sciences.  The award was 
given for the teaching module System Behavior and System Modeling, 
part of NCAR's Global Change Instruction Program.  Designed to teach 
the basics of modeling to undergraduates with little grounding in math 
and the technical aspects of science, the module uses STELLA, a 
graphics-based modeling application for the Apple Macintosh that 
allows users to create computer models without knowing how to 
program.  

Few's module discusses the components and uses of modeling and then 
shows students how to build three simplified working models: of a 
bathtub, the earth's energy system, and human population.  A 
companion Instructor's Manual contains detailed solutions to the 
exercises in the module and an additional set of modeling exercises.

Few has used STELLA to teach modeling to students at many levels.  He 
comments, ÒI have used STELLA successfully in survey courses for 
nonscience majors and in graduate-level courses.  It can also be used by 
the researcher for many of the problems that we need to solve in our 
day-to-day work, although it cannot handle the larger partial differential 
equations.Ó  Using STELLA, he explains, a music major, with the help of 
a teaching assistant, can create his or her own simple climate model for 
the earth, with atmospheric greenhouse feedback, and explore the global 
warming produced by increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide.

There are currently six modules available through the Global Change 
Instruction Program.  They are designed to be integrated into a number 
of existing courses--in earth sciences, biology, physics, astronomy, 
chemistry, meteorology, and the social sciences.  Each represents two to 
three weeks of classroom time, and all are written to be accessible to 
college freshmen.  They are:

System Behavior and System Modeling, by Arthur Few (Rice University).
A primer on system modeling in general and computer modeling in 
particular, with special emphasis on climate modeling.  Program disks 
are provided; must be run on a Macintosh computer.  $5.00

Instructor's Manual for System Behavior and System Modeling.   
Contains discussions and solutions to the 15 exercises in the modeling 
module in text and Macintosh disk form.  $4.00

The Sun-Earth System, by John Streete (Rhodes College). Discusses how 
solar energy is produced on the sun, electromagnetic radiation, and how 
the earth's atmosphere interacts with solar radiation.  $2.50

Clouds and Climate Change, by Glenn Shaw (University of Alaska 
Fairbanks). Discusses the underlying physics of cloud formation and 
cloud-climate feedbacks, with supplementary discussions of cloud 
patterns on other planets and of the energy in clouds.  $2.50

El Ni–o and the Peruvian Anchovy Fishery, by Edward Laws (University 
of Hawaii).  Discusses El Ni–o, the ecology of the Peruvian anchoveta, 
the economics of fisheries management, and the impact of climate 
change on these natural and human systems.  Includes a computer 
simulation that allows students to test the impacts of economic and 
climatic variables on the fish population.  Program disks (Macintosh and 
IBM) provided.  $6.00

Population Growth, by Judith Jacobsen (University of Denver). Discusses 
the relation of population to global change, the basics of demographics, 
patterns of population growth, and the role of public policy on 
population control.  Includes a 1993 World Population Data Sheet.  $5.00

A further module, Biological Consequences of Global Climate Change, 
by Christine Ennis (NCAR) and Nancy Marcus (Florida State University), 
will be available this fall.  Modules range in price from $2.50 to $6.00.