Module 6: The Big Idea

Module 6 covered both Dimensional Thinking and Modelling. Simply put dimensional thinking about the process of taking something that you know and applying it to a bigger scale, different proportion, or different dimension. In the simplest forms, this made a lot of sense to me. The book provided reducing the serving size of a recipe as an example. In my own life, I use dimensional thinking to anticipate the actions of others. For instance, if person responded a particular way, I will usually reflect on those telling situations to predict what their actions will be in the future. Maybe not entirely fair, but honest. However the reading at times seemed hard to follow when dimensional thinking was applied to moving from 2D to 3D.

Modelling, is something that I am quite familiar with being that I worked developing courseware. On the common deliverable for this kind of product is a functional model, to give the client a general look and feel  of something before investing substantial amounts of time and/or money into something that doesn't meet their needs. One of the fundamental differences between dimensional thinking and modelling is that Modelling requires intense observation of a real system or situation. Another fundamental difference is when they needed, models give you a physical, theoretical, or mathematical example of something that can not be easily experienced. Dimensional thinking seems to be less preparatory, and directed to achieving a particular task. While modelling seems to be bigger piece of the planning process. The book mentioned that dimensional thinking is often used in the process of producing a model.