Abstract
The use of system dynamics as a learning tool for developing sustainable energy strategies and environmental education has advanced in recent years with the availability of new modelling software and webtools. Among the existing models, we highlight the online 2050 Calculators, which aim at simulating scenarios for greenhouse gas emissions, energy planning, sustainable land use, and food consumption. The objective of this study is to assess the available calculators and their contribution to an interdisciplinary education via systems thinking. We carried out a review of the existing models worldwide and ran some of the tools with students from three different postgraduate programmes at master’s level at Imperial College London (United Kingdom) and IFP School (France), whilst also assessing their individual views afterwards. The assessments were conducted once a year during three subsequent years: 2019, 2020, and 2021. The results are discussed under the epistemology of critical pedagogy, showing that the use of webtools, such as the 2050 Calculators, can significantly contribute to the students’ environmental awareness and political engagement, providing important lessons about the use of system dynamics for policy and science education.
Highlights
System dynamics is a modelling approach based on the variation of stocks and flows over time
The results on the use of system dynamics for energy and environmental education are presented in two parts
Assessment of the 2050 Calculators as a didactic material The main results of the assessed calculators are consolidated in Table 1 (Appendix 1), showing for each of them their main characteristics, such as if the model is operational and available online, if there is any supporting documentation available, and if the modelling algorithm is available in open access
Summary
System dynamics is a modelling approach based on the variation of stocks and flows over time It can be used, for example, for modelling the dynamics of oil reserves and the impacts of oil exploitation on climate change over the years as well as the potential of bioenergy production in the coming decades against food security and sustainable land use, among many other possible examples. For example, for modelling the dynamics of oil reserves and the impacts of oil exploitation on climate change over the years as well as the potential of bioenergy production in the coming decades against food security and sustainable land use, among many other possible examples These dynamics can be integrated with several other variables, forming a complex system model, which can be applied for different areas, from social sciences to physics and maths. The use of system dynamics to assess planetary boundaries became largely adopted in many research areas (Sverdrup & Ragnarsdottir, 2011)
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