Demystifying Complex Systems by Thinking about Networks: From Metabolism to the Genome to Social Conflict

2010 Teacher Workshop Webpage: Networks

A summer workshop for teachers - June 27- July 10, 2010 

Complex systems perspective is essential to understanding many of the most pressing issues in science and the humanities. The emergence of life, evolution, epidemiology, food webs, the global economy, wars and social conflict are examples of complex systems that scientists at the Santa Fe Institute are currently studying.  The transdisciplinary approach to understanding these systems necessitates finding patterns that underlie these interrelated systems.  One of the important breakthroughs in complex
systems research is new insights into network structure and dynamics.

Network dynamics aims to define the rules by which networks grow, the patterns they form, and the way in which they drive collective behavior.  The science of networks has allowed researchers to shed light on old problems and to create new tools for studying a variety of topics.  The understanding of networks has become fundamental to many academic branches that study living and non-living systems such as metabolism, genomics, social influences and transportation networks.  It is imperative that we expose our students to these transdisciplinary themes, prepare them to apply network concepts to real-world problems, and inspire them to learn more about these provocative frontiers of research.

We seek teacher participants in the fields of all sciences, including computer science, humanities and mathematics to join us for a workshop on Complex Systems and Network Dynamics.  Preference will be given to teams of teachers from the same school.  During this two-week workshop, participants will hear directly from a variety of researchers in the field.  They will be provided opportunities and guidance for synthesizing the information in order to incorporate the concepts into existing curricula or to create new lesson plans.