STEM Education Leap

Today’s GUI-based mathematical software products are tool benches for numerical analysis, not science modeling, per se. They are reductionistic rather than holistic. Thus they have restricted mathematical software development to a cul-de-sac market of about a million users worldwide. The market leader has no significant presence in K-12 STEM education. Yet System Dynamics, a far simpler simulation methodology, has a growing presence in K-12, as testified by among others, its originator, Jay Forester:

We are developing a foundation for kindergarten through 12 grade education based on system dynamics. It’s much easier to teach system dynamics in grades one through eight than it is any time later, because they have a lot less to unlearn. … By the fifth and sixth grades they can be doing computer simulation models that, for the most part, are now being taught in graduate school.

System Dynamics under MetaCalculus

MetaCalculus simply adds leverage to this scenario. Optimization wrapper GUIs can be implemented supporting System Dynamics for introduction in junior high, especially if the math teachers are already trained in MetaCalculus AutoLabs in college. One can easily imagine the world market growth this innovation can cause, as automation of the scienctific method and optimal-control applications would become commonplace in high schools.