Developing Systems Thinking

Friday, Oct 23, 2015

9:00 am Pacific | 10:00 am Mountain | 11:00 am Central | 12:00 pm Eastern
Leader: Hannah Scherer, Virginia Tech

This event has already taken place. See the recordingbelow.

Summary

Our Earth is made up of interacting systems, and having an understanding for how the Earth system works is key in tackling the Grand Challenges facing society. This webinar, led by Hannah Scherer, will address how to effectively incorporate teaching systems thinking into your classroom.

Goals:

• Identify specific interactions in a complex system
• Plan for incorporating systems thinking into teaching

Logistics

Time - 9:00 am Pacific | 10:00 am Mountain | 11:00 am Central | 12:00 pm Eastern
Duration - 1 hour
Format - Online web presentation via Adobe Connect web conference software with questions and discussion. To join the webinar, please visit: http://serc.adobeconnect.com/itg-webinars/ and follow the prompts.
Registration - Please register for this workshop by Thursday, Oct 22, 2015 using the registration form
Preparation - There is no advance preparation required for this webinar.

Please email Monica Bruckner (mbruckne AT carleton.edu) if you have any questions about this event.

Presenter

Hannah Scherer is assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education at Virginia Tech and a specialist with Virginia Cooperative Extension. Her research focuses on improving science teaching and learning in the context of agriculture and in strengthening faculty professional development programs. Scherer has taught science at the K-12 and post-secondary levels in formal and non-formal settings.

Program

• Systems Thinking Webinar Powerpoint Presentation (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 16.4MB Oct20 15)
• Quick Introductions of Presenter - 2 minutes
• Overview of Webinar and Goals - 3 minutes
• Part 1: Guided exploration of a complex system - 25 minutes
  • Student hat: mini lesson
  • Teacher hat: debrief of mini lesson
  • Glossary of Systems Thinking Terms (Acrobat (PDF) 61kB Jul13 15)
• Part 2: Systems assignment critique - 20 minutes
  • Work on defining and planning to teach a system (20 minutes)
    • Activity: Please answer the following questions for assignment 1 (Acrobat (PDF) 144kB Jun24 15):
      • What do you like about the assignment?
      • What don't you like about the assignment?
      • What would you change about the assignment to improve students' understanding of systems?
    • If there is extra time, we can also look at assignment 2 (Acrobat (PDF) 98kB Jun24 15)
    • Group share out and wrap-up
• Part 3: Resources and next steps - 10 minutes
  • Resources
  • Final Q & A

References and Resources

View the Screencast Recording

References and Resources

• For more detail on the strategies introduced in this webinar, see the InTeGrate Teaching Systems Thinking website
• The On Cutting Edge site on complex systems and InTeGrate's pages on teaching systems thinking are two excellent general references and there are lots of links within these pages to explore for further information and ideas for classroom activities.
• Key considerations in planning to teach systems thinking (Acrobat (PDF) 432kB Jun23 15) - pdf of slide from webinar presentation
• Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in Systems: A primer (D. Wright Ed.). White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.
• InTeGrate Systems, Society, Sustainability, and the Geosciences activity collection; Meghann Jarchow's Using concept mapping to experientially introduce systems thinking in this collection may be of particular interest
• Join the Systems Thinking interest group
• Mind Tools Systems Diagrams page provides a good generalized explanation behind the logic of building more formal systems diagrams
• The AAC&U's Scientific Thinking and Integrative Reasoning Skills (STIRS) initiative includes systems analysis in the framework and Climate Interactive has a series of training videos on systems thinking called The Climate Leader