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MODELING SYSTEMS SELF-TAUGHT (MSST)

Modeling Systems Self-Taught (MSST) is a self-paced tutorial for building simulation modeling skills using the STELLA software package.  The entire package consists of an Introduction, 17 Lessons, and 5 Evaluation Exercises. A full Table of Contents is included below.

Purchase:

  • Individuals who wish to obtain the full version of MSST should contact us with that request. Educational and other non-profit individuals and programs can obtain a CD containing the material and an individual license for its use for $US 75.00. That price includes domestic U.S. first-class postage. Expedited or foreign shipping will be billed additionally at cost.
  • Educators and other non-profits can obtain site- or lab-packs for 5 or more licenses at a reduced price of $US37.50 per license. That price includes 1 CD and the shipping as described above. Additional CD’s can be obtained, if desired, for an additional cost of $US10.00 per CD, inclusive of shipping.
  • Cost for all others is $US250 per CD and license, inclusive of shipping.
  • We can accept payment by means of personal or organizational checks, or by MasterCard or VISA credit cards. If credit card payment is desired, we sill solicit the necessary information from you at the time you request purchase. Especially for checks drawn on foreign accounts, we may be obliged to delay shipment of the material until payment has cleared.

MSST Contents:

Lesson # Tools/Mechanics Illustrative Models Build These Models

Lesson 1:
INTRODUCTION TO LINEAR CHANGE

STOCK & (in)FLOW
GRAPHS & TABLES
Save & Print Models

Filling Bathtub;
Constant Travel;
Passage of Time

Linear Savings;
Water Flow from Faucet;
Voracious Reader

Lesson 2:
LINEAR CHANGE WITH INFLOW AND OUTFLOW

(Out)FLOW
Changing Time Specs
Builtin functions

Traffic Jam;
Three Guys in a Bar
(Alcohol in Blood)

Saving & Spending;
Checkout Line;
Drinking Shots Versus Beers

Lesson 3:
SIMPLE COMPOUNDING or SELF-REINFORCING GROWTH

CONVERTER
CONNECTOR
Compounding Flows

Net Population Growth;
Bank Interest

Compound Versus Linear Savings; Inflation; Varying Interest Rates; Population Growth In History; Potato Salad (BacterialGrowth)

Lesson 4:
GAPS

Plot Two Variables on a Graph
Lock a Graph

Earnings/Costs Gap;
Production/Sales Gap;
Calories Consumed/Burned Gap

Inflationary Gap;
Malthusian Gap;
Expectations versus Reality Gap

Lesson 5:
COMPOUND INFLOW AND OUTFLOW: HUMAN POPULATION DYNAMICS

Adding Graph Pages
Copying a Model

Fish Deaths; Radioactive
Decay; Human Population
Dynamics

Global Population Dynamics (comparing countries)

Lesson 6:
SYSTEMS WITH A COMPOUNDING AND LINEAR FLOW

Comparative Graphing

  

Credit Card;
Rumor Mongers;
Drug Elimination in Body;
Lily Pads

Lesson 7:
MULTIPLE CAUSALITY
POPULATION DYNAMICS

Differing Ways to Define Flows with multiple factors, Graphical Function

Migration and the American Revolution; The "Black Death”;War; Birth Control; Health Care

Variations on Population Dynamics: migration, cataclysm, altered birth rates (using birth control)

Lesson 8:
MULTIPLE CAUSALITY: IN NON-POPULATION SYSTEMS

Random "Builtin”
MIN/MAX "Builtin”
"Pause” a Run

Famine;
Bank Account - income and interest versus expenses;
Inventory

Drought;
Building a Family Budget;
Running a Business

Lesson 9:
LIMITS TO GROWTH

Step Function

Home Heating;
Car Inventory

Population Limits;
Graduated Taxation
Diet

Lesson 10:
CONSERVED FLOWS
Bending a Flow

Bending a Flow

Infection

Variations on Infection: Toy Sales; Social Movements; Tipping Points

Lesson 11: MULTIPLE STOCK CONSERVED FLOWS

Using CONVEYORS Defining LEAKAGE FLOWS

Disaggregated Human Population

Teacher Pipeline; Managing a Forest; Preventative Deaths

Lesson 12: VARIETIES OF FLOWS

Flow Types: Relational, Prioritization, Biflows, Summer, Ghost

Disease; Managing Checking/Savings Account; Reservoir

Immunization; Food Distribution; Managing Checking/Savings Account; Food Chain; Traffic; Car Repair Records and Sales

 

Lesson 13: LEARNING ABOUT THE AUTHORING MODE

Authoring Mode Tools

    

Lesson 14 MODELING RHETORICAL OR SOFT SYSTEMS

 

Education; Anger; Achievement;

Stopping AIDS; Slowing Growth in Underdeveloped Countries;Frustration, Aggression; Prejudice; Exercise

Lesson 15: INTERACTING SYSTEMS (SIMPLE)

Connecting Two Systems Together

Population and Oil; Population and Parasites; Environmental Degradation and Outrage

Plants and Nutrients; People and Food; Environmental Degradation and Outrage; Acceleration; Business Inventories and Accounts

Lesson 16: INTERACTING SYSTEMS (TWO STRAND: MORE COMPLEX)

   

Explosive Business Growth Social Security

Lesson 17: THREE STRAND INTERACTING SYSTEMS

 

Ecosystem: Kaibob Plateau; Running a Business: Price, Inventory, Production

Global Sustainability:

MSST & Demo Dozen - Technical Requirements

The following program is required in order to use "Demo Dozen" and “MSST”:

STELLA 8 (or STELLA 9; ® IseeSystems, Inc; Lebanon, NH 03766)

Previous versions of Demo Dozen and MSST are available for folks still using STELLA 6 or STELLA 7. If one of those versions is needed, please contact us.

A “Demo” version of STELLA 8 will work for any of these products, but be aware that such versions of STELLA come with constraints defined by IseeSystems.

Download:

We provide the Introduction and first 3 Lessons of MSST here for free down-loading.