Advantages of using Daisyworld include:

1. Show computer-based modeling, nonlinear feedback loops, and the role of mathematics in real-life science
2. Intrinsic interest
3. Adaptable for use with a range of students
4. Readily accessible from the internet
5. Any teacher can use, regardless of level of experience
6. Inquiry-based learning and Science Standards easily integrated
7. Show how modeling is used in environmental science, how continuous events can be broken into finite differences, the limitations of models, and how there are different ways to approach solving the same problem

Getting Started

If you would like to start simulating Dasiyworld immediately, we recommend beginning with a Java-based version of the Daisyworld simulation written by Ginger Booth.  Here are the quick start instructions:

• After the Javascript comes up, click on the various boxes to see different aspects of this model.
• You may want to spend some time browsing around and checking all the various INFORMATION links (Discussion, Questions, Details, Homework, References) and  the ACTION boxes (Scenarios, Run, Daisies, Colors, Parameters). If you change a Parameter, be sure to click on OK before running.

References

This book introduces to college students the use of system dynamics models to understand and manage environmental systems.  The Overview gives an understandable background of this field. Chapter 21 is devoted to analyzing and understanding Daisyworld. For more detailed information  goto <http://www.islandpress.org/ford/AAOpen.html>. Also, a Stella version of the Daisyworld Flight Simulator is available for download.

2. For a complete annotated list of over 20 Daisyworld links, goto <http://www.u.arizona.edu/~ara/index.html>.

An excellent resource of many Daisyworld sites as of 12.98. Some links may be dated (7.20.99).

This is another highly recommended site with extensive applications of Daisyworld. For a general introduction and to get a sense of how the model works at the simplest level, goto "The effect of the amount of sunlight on the daisy population." You will be able to actually enter variables and see the effects on your daisy populations. This also includes the full Daisy World Demo where users can manipulate all aspects of the model and see the effects, and complete smaller modules designed to investigate changing individual variables. Parts of the model are explained in easy to understand terms. Other sections of the site, however, provide the user with as much technicality as they would wish. The first page describes the set-up of the model and explains the parameters.

This is a college-level lab that gives many concrete "experiments" and includes in-depth analyses of the mathematics behind the model.

Includes a great deal on the albedos of planet Earth, plus a compact discussion of DaisyWorld with exercises that inspired some of the later DaisyBall labs. Highly technical.