GUIDES:
Don, Carolyn, and Bob

ACCESSORIES:

• Starter Challenge:
  ShockWave plug-in
  NetAdventure Population Application
  
  
• Super Challenge:
  ShockWave plug-in
  NetAdventure Population Application
  
  
• Mega Challenge:
  ShockWave plug-in
  NetAdventure Population Application

Will the world get warmer in the next century? If so, how much? Will island countries be drowned? What will the population of your city be in fifty years? How much will a decrease in taxes stimulate the economy? The answers to these and many other questions are based on models. The debate about what to do about our problems often hinges on a debate about which model is correct. Last year when Congress closed down the US Government, the big debate was about how much needed to be cut from the budget because the Congress and the White House had models of the economy that gave different answers. They re-opened government when they reached agreement on a single model to use! So models are really important and will increasingly influence our lives.

How do these models work? How do people judge which model is better? How are models made? These are the questions we address in this NetAdventure. We are going to solve a particular kind of model, called a "dynamic model." These models change over time and the amount they change depends on their current values. The ideas we address apply to many situations, from the motion of a child's swing, to the progress of a chemical reaction, to the population of the world.

Related Ideas:

• In the U.S. you can find out more than you thought you ever wanted to know by typing in your zip code at U.S Census Bureau site. Also, browse Tiger Map and see a map of your neighborhood from the same page. You can ask for number of persons, male and female, how they travel to work, commuting time, number who carpooled, number who were born somewhere else (by region)- an interesting statistic of migration.
  http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer
• Search for the census information for most countries of the world via the Census list of International Statistical Centers.
  http://www.census.gov/main/www/stat_int.html
• Explore population growth trend analysis and charts/graphs at World Resources Institute site.
  http://www.wri.org/wri/trends/popgrow.html
• Check out the national and world PopClocks from the US Census bureau.
  http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
• Investigate demographic information at the University of Oregon site.
  http://biology.uoregon.edu/Biology_WWW/BSL/Demography.html