KEY OBJECTIVES FOR STUDENTS:

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1 Feedback Loops OVERVIEW Authored by In this lesson, students have another opportunity to practice systems thinking as they learn that feedback loops can help them pinpoint cause-and-effect relationships in a system. Students explore specific examples of feedback loops in natural and human systems and differentiate between positive feedback loops, which reinforce conditions, and negative feedback loops, which balance conditions. They consider examples of feedback loops in buildings and identify leverage points as places where a small change can influence a significantly larger change. Then students divide into groups and create skits to challenge one another to identify positive and negative feedback loops and consider potential leverage points that could lead to an increase in a building s sustainability. This foundational knowledge helps prepare students for the LEED Green Associate Exam. KEY OBJECTIVES FOR STUDENTS: Explain the value of identifying feedback loops in a system. Provide examples of feedback loops in daily life and in natural systems. Differentiate between positive and negative feedback loops. Analyze feedback loops in the built environment and identify potential leverage points. ESTIMATED TIME NEEDED (MINUTES): 55 minutes GRADE LEVELS: 9, 10, 11, 12 PRIMARY SUBJECTS: Career and Technical Education (CTE), Environmental Education SECONDARY SUBJECTS: General Science, Language Arts, Social Studies METHODS: Brain-Based Learning, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Intelligences, Real-World Application SKILLS: Collaboration, Communication skills, Creative problem solving, Critical Thinking, Systems thinking VALUES: Curiosity, Mindfulness Learning Lab: learninglab.usgbc.org Course author retains full copyright of all materials. 1

2 PREPARE BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS: This lesson is another formative lesson that both helps students further develop their understanding of systems thinking and helps them add critical LEED vocabulary to their toolkit. By exploring the concept of feedback loops, students can enhance their understanding of how systems work. They learn how to analyze systems within systems and step back and look at the bigger picture emergent properties. Students also gain practice identifying factors that cause growth or decline in a system (by noting positive feedback loops) as well as factors that keep a system stable by self-correcting over time (by noting negative feedback loops). Students analyze numerous examples of feedback loops, from the simple (missing homework assignments) to the complex (the effect of fossil fuels on global climate change). They also study human-created systems in the built environment, tracking the work of sensors and flows of information, as well as contemplating a business s culture and how identifying leverage points can make a business stronger and more sustainable. As students create quick skits and interpret their classmates skits, they have additional opportunities to internalize and apply what they learned to specific building examples. IN ADVANCE: Review the lesson in advance, including the Feedback Loop Presentation Teacher s Notes. Decide how you plan to divide the class into eight groups for their skits. You can have fewer than eight groups, but not more. Print and cut the Feedback Loop Skit Cards so each group has a card. MATERIALS NEEDED: Sticky note, one per student Watch or clock KEY VOCABULARY: feedback loop negative feedback loop positive feedback loop system systems thinking global climate change homeostasis emergent properties culture leverage points Learning Lab: learninglab.usgbc.org Course author retains full copyright of all materials. 2

3 TEACH ACTIVITY OUTLINE: Time Exercise Description 3 min. Engage Share a relatable experience with students to get them thinking about feedback loops. 2 min. Explore Students identify other examples of feedback loops they have encountered. 25 min. Explain Share the Feedback Loops Presentation with students to help them understand feedback loops in the context of systems thinking. 20 min. Elaborate Students work in groups to create skits that demonstrate a feedback loop within the built environment. Then they present their skits to the class and give classmates an opportunity to name the feedback loop portrayed and discuss possible leverage points. 5 min. Evaluate Conclude with a final, synthesizing discussion. IMPLEMENTATION: 1. Engage: Ask students to freewrite in their notebooks to answer the following questions: When you are behind in submitting assignments for a class, what happens? Does it get harder and harder to make up the work as more and more work builds up? Explain. How might you respond in these circumstances? 2. Tell students that this cycle of getting behind with work, then catching up only to find out that there is now a new stack of assignments you are behind with, can be considered a feedback loop. Ask if anyone can define a feedback loop. (Feedback loops show a chain of cause-and-effect relationships that flow in a circuit or loop. In other words, in a feedback loop, a system feeds back on itself.) Explain that diagrams are useful for understanding feedback loops. On the board, diagram a simple feedback loop for missing homework assignments, as follows. 3. Explore: Encourage students to consider other examples of feedback loops in their daily life. Some examples to discuss and expand could be: a. Exercising regularly, because as you exercise, your body releases endorphins and you feel happier, which can lead you to want to exercise more. b. Healthy eating, because as you eat well, your body can function better, which makes you want to continue to eat well. c. Texting and social media, because the more you use social media, the larger your network grows and the more messages you have to read and the more people you have to respond to. 4. Have students write their response to this question on a sticky note: What do you want to know about feedback loops? 5. Collect students sticky notes and hold onto them until later in the session. 6. Explain: Guide students through the Feedback Loops Presentation, using the corresponding Teacher s Notes to guide discussion and facilitate students as they further explore the idea of feedback loops. 7. Elaborate: Divide the class into up to eight groups. Give each group one of the skit cards and explain that each card describes either a negative or positive feedback loop in a built environment. 8. Explain that each group s task is to take what they read on the card and turn it into a quick skit that clearly demonstrates the given feedback loop. Tell students to keep the topic secret for now they should not mention the type of feedback loop their group was assigned, collaborate with other groups, or share the topic before their performance because part of the skit will be to invite the class to guess what type of feedback loop they are portraying. 9. Share these requirements and guidelines with students: a. Limit your skit to 1 3 minutes in length. b. Include all the steps mentioned on the skit card. c. Be creative! d. Be collaborative make sure every group member has a role in writing and/or performing the skit. e. Do not share the topic or type of feedback loop with other groups. f. Be quick! You have only 5 minutes to create your skit. 10. Give students five minutes to create their skits. 11. After five minutes, tell students to assemble as an audience, and call one group to come forward and present their skit. Learning Lab: learninglab.usgbc.org Course author retains full copyright of all materials. 3

4 Direct students in the audience to be thinking about the type of feedback loop (negative or positive) the skit portrays, as well as leverage points related to the topic of the skit. 12. After each skit, have a brief discussion to give students an opportunity to share the feedback loop they think the group represented in the skit. Also ask: Does the feedback loop support or diminish the built environment? Explain. What are some leverage points related to this feedback loop? 13. Evaluate: Ask students to think back to the beginning of class. Ask: Do you have a better understanding now of what a feedback loop is and how it can be useful to systems thinkers? Refer to the student questions on sticky notes from earlier in the lesson. Discuss the questions and have students attempt to answer them. See also the Reflection Questions on the Assess Tab, which you can use to guide students in a final, synthesizing discussion. The ideas on the Extend Tab also provide suggestions for checking students comprehension of key concepts shared in this lesson. Learning Lab: learninglab.usgbc.org Course author retains full copyright of all materials. 4

5 REFLECT REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Use the following questions to prompt critical thinking and guide students to reflect about the lesson: Explain: One type of feedback loop is associated with a signal to stop and another is associated with a stimulus to produce more. Which is the positive feedback loop and which is the negative, and what are examples of each? (A negative feedback loop produces a signal for a system to stop an action when that action is no longer needed. An example is a thermostat. A positive feedback loop occurs when a stimulus causes an effect that produces more of the same original effect. An example of this is exercising when we exercise, our bodies produce endorphins, which cause us to want to exercise more.) Why might it be important to identify cause-and-effect relationships in a system? (Sample answer: Because when we identify relationships between the parts of a system, we can begin to see how well the parts of a system are working together and how we might make changes to make the system more efficient and effective.) Why is identifying leverage points an important part of creating a sustainable building system? (Sample answer: Because leverage points are places where making small changes can result in significantly larger impacts. Using leverage points can make an entire system more effective, more efficient, and more sustainable.) Suppose you drive a Toyota Prius. This car provides data right on the dashboard that shows you how your driving habits impact the amount of fossil fuel versus electric battery you are using. This is sometimes called the Prius effect. How is it an example of using a leverage point? (The Prius provides users with real-time feedback about their energy use so they can adjust their behavior to save energy. The Prius Effect can be seen in other circumstances, such as giving people who work in an office access to real-time data about the amount of energy they are using, and watching them change their behavior to save energy.) The physicist Doyne Farmer once said that an emergent property is not magic, but it feels like magic. Use an example of a system within a building to describe what he might have meant. (Sample answer: Anything that is made up of individual parts and produces an effect that is entirely different from any of its parts, is creating an emergent property. Computer systems, water systems, and electric systems could all qualify as emergent systems that work only because of the many unique parts interacting together to produce the desired effect.) ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES: Assign students the following open-response question: Define a feedback loop and differentiate between positive and negative feedback loops. Provide at least one example for each type of feedback loop that relates to the built environment. Then evaluate a potential leverage point within a building system that could lead to an increase in sustainability. This lesson presents many other opportunities for assessment as well. You could use the Participation Checklist to keep track of student progress during discussions and the skit activity. The Reflection Questions on the Assess Tab also offer an excellent opportunity to assess students comprehension of the material whether you use a checklist during a group discussion of the questions or use the questions as an oral or written quiz. In addition, the material on the Extend Tab is useful for further checking student comprehension as well as for reteaching and extending key ideas from the lesson. STANDARDS ASSESSMENT: STUDY GUIDE SUPPLEMENTARY READING GBES LEED Green Associate Exam Preparation Study Guide (included with program) Bottom of page 31 to page 35 LEED GREEN ASSOCIATE EXAM TASK DOMAINS Communicate broad and basic green building concepts to team or colleagues Assist others with sustainability goals Serve as a green advocate to clients, team members, and general public (e.g., why green building) LEED GREEN ASSOCIATE EXAM KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS Integrative Strategies Integrative process (e.g., early analysis of the interrelationships among systems; systems thinking; charrettes) Energy and Atmosphere Energy efficiency (e.g., basic concepts of design, operational energy efficiency, commissioning, energy auditing) Alternative and renewable energy practices (e.g., demand response, renewable energy, green power, carbon offsets) Environmental concerns (e.g., sources and energy resources; greenhouse gases; global warming potential; resource depletion; ozone depletion) Materials and Resources Learning Lab: learninglab.usgbc.org Course author retains full copyright of all materials. 5

6 Life-cycle impacts (e.g., concept of life-cycle assessment; material attributes; human and ecological health impacts; design for flexibility) LEED IMPACT CATEGORIES Climate Change LEED CREDIT CATEGORIES Integrative Process Integrative Process Energy and Atmosphere Green Power and Carbon Offsets Materials and Resources Building Life-Cycle Impact Reduction CLOUD EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY (EFS) STANDARDS & PERFORMANCE INDICATORS C1 8, C12, C14, C17, C25 30, C38 39 Learning Lab: learninglab.usgbc.org Course author retains full copyright of all materials. 6

7 EXTEND COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS: Suggest students do research to determine if school purchases are part of a positive or negative feedback loop. Students could narrow the search to one category of purchasing, such as paper, food, or energy. For example, a student may wonder where the school sources its paper supply. Is the paper recycled or non-recycled? If the paper is not recycled, are the trees harvested sustainably? In either case, how does this purchase affect the environment? Have students identify leverage points in the cycle, and determine what the school could do to make a positive change to the system. Have students document what they learn with a feedback loop diagram and a short report, and then present their findings to the purchasing administrator at the school. DIFFERENTIATION: You may wish to pre-assign students to groups so that you can attempt to balance students strengthens and weaknesses. The ideas offered on the Extend Tab also provide strategies for different types of learners. If you have students who are not prepared for the skit activity, you may wish to assign them one of those activities as an alternative. If students are learning English as a second language, and their first language is Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Japanese, Korean, or Italian, suggest they download a copy of the LEED v4 Glossary of Terms with Translations, where they will find many vocabulary terms that are relevant to the LEED Green Associate Exam defined in their native language. CROSS DISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS: LEED Green Associate Exam Study Tip Remind students to add new vocabulary to their LEED Jargon and Key Vocabulary booklets and to review previous entries. Encourage students to compare notes with each other and to revisit and improve their definitions as they progress through the course. Each lesson plan includes a section of key vocabulary. (See the Prepare Tab.) Some of these words are directly included in the LEED Green Associate Exam, and others help students form a base of understanding for the Exam. You may wish to put the key vocabulary on the board as a reminder to students to look them up and include them in their LEED Jargon books each time they encounter a new lesson. Also, as mentioned on the previous page, students who are learning English may benefit from referencing the LEED v4 Glossary of Terms with Translations. On the Assess Tab of this and most lesson plans, you will see a reference to Study Guide Supplementary Reading, which refers to the GBES LEED Green Associate Exam Preparation Guide. This guide is included in your LEED Prep program. To access that guide and additional helpful USGBC resources, please use the following link to enroll in the EcoRise online platform. Tell students that reading these sections will help them prepare for the lesson and for the LEED Green Associate Exam. You may wish to give students time in class to read the recommended pages, or assign them for homework. Language Arts Although technology is becoming more and more adept at helping us humans become more resource-efficient and sustainable, at the end of the day, it is our human selves that need to learn, know, and understand when to turn the lights off. The article from Wired, Creating Feedback Loops in the Built Environment, (included with Attachments) discusses how sustainable technology won t be able to take the place of an end user with unbreakable, unsustainable habits. Have students read this article and write a one-page reflection discussing the importance of human habits in making our buildings more sustainable. Encourage them to include suggestions on how positive and negative feedback loops can help create sustainable behavior changes. Science Have students read the article, I Heard You Like Feedback Loops by Christina Agapakis (included with Attachments). Then direct them to distill the article into 2 3 key ideas. Next encourage students to form small groups to discuss the article and then work together to create a short summary or skit that explains key points of the article. Social Studies Have students plan and conduct a social experiment by creating a positive or negative feedback loop intended to bring about a habitual change in the school system. A negative feedback loop might keep stability in the system by signaling a range of conditions and identifying a way to self-correct as the system deviates from the ideal point. A positive feedback loop might set up a reward system for positive habits and behaviors. Ideas might include a campaign to get students to recycle more, or parents to stop idling in the parking lot. Learning Lab: learninglab.usgbc.org Course author retains full copyright of all materials. 7