Schedule Suggestions
This book is designed for use in a college course for undergraduate students interested in systems and the environment. I designed the book for a "typical" course with students meeting three hours per week for 16 weeks. But courses come in all shapes and sizes, so you should take advantage of the book's modular design to shape the material to your situation.
suggestions for a 4 week course, an 8 week course , a 12 week course , a 16 week course

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4 Week
Course		 If you are limited to four weeks of instruction, I recommend the following sequence:
1st week introduction (ch 1) & review (apx A&B)
2nd week software (select from apx C, D, E or F)
3rd week build (ch 2) and simulate (ch 3)
4th week First Major Application -- the Case of Mono Lake (ch 4)

The material is self standing, and it concludes with a realistic application to an important environmental system.
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8 Week
Course		 If you are using the book in an eight week course, I recommend you add the following sequence of chapters:
5th week  equilibrium diagrams (ch 6) and s shaped growth (ch 6)
6th week  causal loop diagrams (chs 7,8) and bulls eye diagrams (ch 9)
7th week  intro to material flow (ch 10) and the step size (ch 11)
8th week  Second Major Application (select from chs 12, 13 or 14)

The Tucannon example in chapter 14 might be the best selection since it concludes with an interative model to allow students to assume the role of fishery manager. At the end of 8 weeks, the students will have mastered the fundamentals of modeling and studied two major applications.
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12 Week Course If you are teaching a 12 week course, you could add the following sequence:
9th week the modeling process (ch 15)
10th week illustrating the process with the Kaibab deer herd (ch 16)
11th week fundamentals of oscillations (ch 17);
select an ecological example (ch 18) or an economic example (ch 19)
12th week  management flight simulators--select from chs 20 and 21
At the end of 12 weeks, students will have acquired a strong foundation to build and use models.
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16 Week Course A class project is the best way to conclude a one semester course. I recommend you allow four weeks for students to build a new model or to improve one of the models in the book. Each of the models has been carefully documented, so your students will be able to verify the results in the book before they undertake their own improvements. Students will also find many models on this website which are suitable for class projects.
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