Subject: Cultural SD

Posted by Anne Lavigne on 12/4/2008
In Reply To:Cultural SD Posted by Lees N. Stuntz on 12/2/2008

Message:

As mentioned earlier, a good start to developing an SD course without teaching modeling would be to define learning objectives for students, in this case, clarify “the lessons of SD.” Within the Systems Thinking in Schools Project, we have worked to clarify and implement systems thinking and dynamic modeling (ST/DM) concepts within a K-12 environment, while also collaborating with individuals and groups within higher-education and the business world. Collaborations within these various settings over time have made one issue clear: consensus does not exist on what the key lessons should be and for whom they might be appropriate in any given setting.

Given that, we can still say that we have learned quite a lot about what students are capable of understanding, even at very young ages, and about how to work with adult educators and their students to build that understanding. Much of what we do is work to build understanding and capacity within educators, so that they can determine how ST/DM can deepen student learning of required state standards/benchmarks. Time is a huge issue – limited time that teachers can commit to learning new teaching strategies and limited time within the school year for student instruction.

One strategy we use to maximize the use of teacher learning time is to run workshops using strategies and materials that teachers can, in many cases, use immediately in the classroom environment. Each summer, we hold in-person workshops to introduce educators to key concepts we’ve identified within the field of ST/DM and to help them design some initial plans for implementation. Kinesthetic exercises play a large role in workshops, as their use can help students move from a concrete experience to abstract concepts. Follow-up learning collaborative sessions allow individuals to continue their learning over time through sharing lessons or student work samples, asking questions, gathering ideas, and experiencing some new strategies.

Because of the difficulties associated with in-person workshops (e.g. expense, travel time, limited time during the school year), we’ve also started to develop some online options, bringing the concepts of systems thinking to life with audio/visual components. In a similar way to the kinesthetic experiences, the online environment is structured to move from the concrete to the abstract, so that teachers who use it for their own learning may also choose to have students experience some of the same exercises as an introduction to the SD/DM concepts. The project, which will consist of nine learning modules, is still in development but can be viewed at:
www.watersfoundation.org/webed

Ultimately, system dynamics modeling is an important component of developing deeper understanding of the underlying interdependent structures of our world’s systems. However, fostering understanding of the concepts embedded within modeling, such as change over time, feedback, and mental models can create the foundation for that future learning and is therefore vitally important to the education of all students in the 21st century.

Tracy Benson, Anne LaVigne, and Joan Yates

Systems Thinking in Schools, Waters Foundation
Arizona Center