Considering Systems and Controls Our world is filled with systems.
Complex systems have control mechanisms. Without controls the systems are likely to breakdown or malfunction. 1. For each system shown in bold write its major function. You may not know much about the system. You may need to learn more about a system to find the examples of controls. Highways
Vehicle (identify 2 controls)
School
Cafeteria (identify 2 controls)
Desert Ecosystem
Vertebrate's Digestive system (identify 2 controls)
Communication system
A communication device (identify 2 controls)
Extend your thinking: Find a similarity in the functioning of controls for two of the systems.
Sometimes two systems interact and specialized controls are developed.
Could one of these systems be improved with a change in a control? Explain.
In something that consists of many parts, the parts usually influence one another. Watch The Disappearing Delta: Losing Ground. Identify the system. Give an example of how one part of the system influences another part of the system.
How has man impacted this system?
What should happen now?
A picture is worth... People seek to understand systems by mapping them. Give an example.
"Something inside me makes me want to learn, want to explore, want to create." Steve Wozniak
Extras: The First American Party System | Choosing the Right Database System | Cities Are Urban Ecosystems | An Atlas of Cyberspace | Understanding GIS Emergence - do it yourselves order Watch - Meet Computer Engineer iWoz | Science Net Links - Systems | Break It Down | Da Vinci The Yes Men - democracy for sale - Try your hand at this approach to dealing with a problem facing you today. Internet Hunts / Nature / Working in a Group / Computers / Problem Based Learning / Puzzles & Projects / Site map / Home All trademarks, copyright and logos belong to their respective owners. 2007 Cynthia J. O'Hora This activity may be printed for individual use in a nonprofit setting. Posted 2/2007 Save a tree use a digital answer format - Highlight the text. Copy it. Paste it in a word processing document. Save the document in your folder. Answer on the wp document in a contrasting color (not yellow) or font. Or perhaps you have the resources to record verbal answers. If you do, be sure to first read / record the question. Then record the answer immediately after it. Proof your responses. It is funny how speling errors and typeos sneak in to the bets worck. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. Aligned with Pennsylvania Academic Standards for: Science and Technology and Reading, Writing, Listening |