Appropriate for environmental sustainability or systems thinking courses. This Learning Lab offers a progression of interactive learning experiences for the purpose of building user understanding of the shrimp industry system, the issues it faces, and how policy alternatives may improve the industry's typical boom and bust patterns. There are two learning pathways in the Lab. The Systems Thinking Basics Course builds basic understanding of renewable commodity systems through a presentation of the most important interrelationships among consumer market demand, wild shrimp fisheries, shrimp aquaculture, environmental factors, and market price. Users experience the dynamics of the system utilizing various simulation runs involving a progression of common renewable commodity system issues: resource depletion and environmental pollution. The Policy and Scenarios Advance Course deepens students understanding of commodity systems behavior by testing policies designed to address commodity systems traps and with alternative scenarios dealing with market forces. A teaching note (OM-1428TN) is available.
