Photosynthesis is what comes to mind as an example of a CAS. Each component must behave according to simple rules and when one component is missing or altered (amount of sunlight, quantity of carbon dioxide, etc.), the system must react.
I’m thinking erosion could be seen as a reinforcing feedback system. As erosion increases in an area there’s less growing which increases erosion. Or as a field becomes more eroded a farmer may plant more crops which leads to more erosion.
In current events, “mob mentality” that starts looting.
At the 6th grade level in Maryland Science the students, as part of the water module, investigate the Chesapeake Bay Water shed. We follow the behavior of those who live in Frederick,Md and how it effects the Chesapeake Bay approximately 100 miles away.
This is an example of a CAS. The main focus for this section of the water module is the CAS characteristic “If elements of the system are altered, the system adapts or reacts” Students are taken over a two day period to various local waterways where they collect data completing ten tests at each site. . Upon returning to the classroom the data is analyzed and students create a statement, with evidence to support. as to the health of the water in the county. The current data is then compared to the water reports from five ten, and twenty years ago. Students are amazed at how polluted the water was compared to today.
Any food web is a great example of a CAS. Each organism has it’s own adaptive features, behaviors, and needs that allow it to hunt or evade being eaten and that impacts other living things within the ecosystem. Abiotic features are also affected if you take into account that decomposition returns basic elements to that ecosystem. Everything is connected in some fashion with everything else.
The nervous system is a complex adaptive system. All responses to stimuli follow the same rules to illicit a response.
As the Special Educator and non-science teacher, I think of behavioral science and patterns of student behavior that impact their learning. I observe increased societal pressures having a negative impact on student performance in school.
I think the Water Cycle is an example of a complex adaptive syster.
Having studnets study energy comsumption and how to save energy in their lives is a fun way to study a complex adaptive system. Looking at how different families use energy and having students research ways to comserve energy can help them in their own lives.
In physical science, the study of Energy can lead to an understanding of complex adaptive systems. Energy is neither created or destroyed and can only be transferred and transformed.
The interaction of all members of the ecosystem.
The human body is a complex system.
Energy would fit into this category so would subatomic particles.
In physical science, an example of a complex adaptive system may be the molecular motion of particles as they energy is added an removed
The behavior of matter as it relates to chemical reactions.
A video involving several classes including individuals with unique roles that evolves while in progress eventually resulting in either a pattern of cohesive interaction or chaotic disfunction.
The microbiota (the community of micro-organisms that live in your digestive tract) are an example of a complex adaptive system.
The study of weather involves many different factors that affect the motion of molecules in the air, thus creating our weather.
I am currently teaching Computer Applications and an example of the Complex Adaptive System I teach would be the Internet and cyberspace. As our students go online–they become part of the system that collaborates and interacts as part of the human-computer interaction. They too have to learn how to interact within the internet community understanding the cyber citizenship rules.
When talking about ecosystems and overpopulations, complex adaptive systems fit with the topics nicely. These concepts have many instances where organisms are responding to one another and we can see how patterns emerge.