Lessons from a conceptual modeling exercise

There is considerable need to educate students in the process of developing conceptual models within the modeling and simulation discipline. The challenge is complicated by the fact that the specific form of a conceptual model is not driven by universally accepted criteria and one might argue that the ultimate purpose of such a model is itself ill-defined. In 2010 one of the co-authors initiated a "Conceptual Modeling Corner" segment in the Society of Modeling and Simulation International's M&S Magazine. To focus the discussion, a specific problem was outlined and readers were encouraged to propose conceptual models for the problem. The M&S course within the Georgia Tech Professional Masters in Applied Systems Engineering program recently used the problem as an assignment and 46 students developed conceptual models. In this paper we outline criteria developed to evaluate a subset of these conceptual models and a number of "lessons learned" from this exercise.