Spring Learning Labs

This semester the teens from the Investigation Stations and the City Science A group were put together to continue  to discuss System Dynamics. For most of the teens this is an entirely new topic and learning environment, but others have been exposed to the content since last semester. I'm looking forward to seeing things unfold. So far we've talked about systems; our place in them, the components neccessary for success, what defines a system, etc. We're trying to get the teens excited about how they effect their environments. Last week in lab we had an interesting discussion about the connections between components in different systems. We were talking about the involvment of "Rules" in systems and how, if at all, rules cross system boundaries and what would happen in mall systems if security was increased when one of the teens asked the question, "Would you rather have all your freedoms/rights but not feel safe or increased safety measures and lose some of your freedoms"? This encouraged a great discussion about the merits of rules, and whether or not certain behaviors are rights/responsibilties.