Simple Rules for Systemic Change in Complex Adaptive Systems: The ESL Classroom

• In Event: Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: Promoting Equity and Diversity Through Systems Thinking

Abstract

Educating adolescent English learners is one of the greatest challenges in education today, illustrating the complex nature of teaching in an era of greater diversity and imposed standardization. This study focuses on a post hoc analysis of data collected through instructional interventions with English learners in two different high schools. The data analysis identifies emergent patterns in each classroom. After analyzing the dysfunctional patterns in the first classroom, the researcher created simple rules to influence positive learning patterns in the second classroom. This study suggests that a deep knowledge of complex adaptive systems, specifically the concept of simple rules, can help educators who struggle to set conditions for generative learning in the space of oppressive, bureaucratic systems.

Authors

• Mary Amanda Stewart, Texas Woman's University

• Leslie Patterson, Human Systems Dynamics Institute