Teaching From a Systems Perspective: Seeing the Classroom as a System

• In Event: Roundtable Session 75
  In Roundtable Session: Systems Thinking as a Driver for Designing 21st-Century Curriculum and Instruction

Abstract

Systems thinking provides a powerful framework to understand and address dynamic complexity, which aptly describes K-12 classrooms. The paradigm of systems thinking and the modeling approach of system dynamics have been taught in K-12 classrooms since 1987 (Morrison, 2008), and it provides the framework in K-12 science and sustainability education, and for earth and space sciences at the college level (Ireton, F., Manduca, C., & Mogk, D., 1996). However, explicit methods have not yet emerged that help teachers use systems thinking to guide their pedagogical philosophy and practice – in other words, to teach from a systems perspective. The following paper briefly explores this topic and proposes two novel applications of systems thinking to enhance K-12 instruction.

Authors

• David Barshes, The Classroom System

• Ruth M. Fruland, Bellevue College