CCC Critical Questions to Ask
Systems & Systems Models
- What are the limits of the system?
- What other systems affect this system?
- How do they work together?
- What are the inputs and outputs of this system?
- What interactions and processes involve this system?
- What are the advantages to thinking about this as a system?
- In what ways is this system like others I have learned about? How is it different?
- What is accurate and inaccurate about our model of this system?
- How can our system model be made more accurate?
- Engineering - How can we improve the function of the system?
Matter & Energy
- How are energy and matter related in this system?
- Where does the energy for this system come from?
- Where does it go?
- What does energy do in the system? How is it changed?
- What is the role of matter in this system?
- How does it change?
- How does it enter / exit the system?
- Is the role of energy and matter in this system similar to other systems I have learned about?
- How is it different?
- Engineering (energy) How can we improve the energy efficiency of the design?
- Engineering (matter) If we change the materials, does that improve the design?
Patterns
- Is there a pattern?
- What is the evidence for this pattern?
- Do similarities and differences reveal a pattern?
- Is this pattern real or imagined?
- (People sometimes see patterns where there isn't one)
- What prediction can I make based on this pattern?
- Can I test them?
- Is there a cause for this pattern?
- What is it?
- What other crosscutting concepts can be applied to this pattern?
- Engineering: How widely can this pattern be applied?
- What are its limits?
- Can I use this pattern to design a solution?
Scale, Proportions & Quantity
- How would this phenomena we are studying look at the micro and nano scale?
- How does this interaction affect the global scale?
- How does this system look at a smaller and larger scales?
- What is new?
- What is the same?
- How does this scale relate to you?
- How much bigger or smaller is it than what you are used to experiencing?
- How can we study nature at this scale?
- How can we accurately measure this at this scale?
- Engineering: What is involved in making this process take place at an industrial scale?
Cause & Effect
- What evidence is there for a cause & effect relationship?
- How can this cause and effect relationship be tested?
- What are other possible causes?
- Is the cause and effect relationship real or imagined?
- How is this cause and effect relationship similar to and different than others I have learned about?
- Engineering: How can I use this cause and effect relationship in my design?
Stability & Change
- What causes change in this system?
- What causes stability in this system?
- Are there feedbacks that make this system more or less stable?
- What is the time scale for this system to remain stable or change?
- If the system is stable, what would cause it to change?
- If the system is changing what would make it become stable?
- Is the stability static or dynamic?
- How does stability and change in this system compare to other systems I have learned about?
- Engineering: How can we make the system more stable?
- How can we make it change?
Structure & Function
- How does the function depend on the structure?
- How does the structure support the function?
- Are there other structures that can serve the same function?
- How does this relationship between structure and function compare to others that I have learned about?
- How does the structure limit the function?
- Engineering: How can the structure be improved?
- How can the function be improved?