Systems Thinking

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Systems Thinking

• Why Pierce College should introduce students to
  this way of analyzing their world

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Courses and Development Team

• Phil 130 Introduction to Systems Thinking
• Phil 131 Integrated Systems Thinking
• Developed by
• Emily Kulbacki (Philosophy)
• Kristin Brunnemer (English)
• Laurie Shuster (Library)
• Ron May (Biology)
• Pete Kaslik (Math)

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What is a System?

• A system is an interconnected set of elements
  that is coherently organized in a way that
  achieves something
• Examples
• Circulatory System
• Educational System
• Government
• Environmental Systems

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History

• Systems Thinking was developed in the 1960s by
  the MIT System Dynamics group, which included Jay
  Forrester, the groups founder.

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A different Understanding

• Systems Thinking can be summarized with a Sufi
  teaching story You think that because you
  understand one that you must therefore
  understand two because one and one make two.
  But you forget that you must also understand
  and.

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Reasons for Creating These Courses

• Critical thinking is enhanced by systems
  thinking.
• There is a distinct lack of systems thinking in
  the current political debates in this country.
• The courses are 2 or 3 credits, which is needed
  at this school.

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Qualitative Aspects of Systems Thinking

• Characteristics of Systems
• Resilience
• Self-organization
• Hierarchy

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Qualitative Aspects of Systems Thinking

• Why Systems Surprise Us
• The world is non-linear but our models are
  normally linear
• Limiting factors no system can grow forever.
  Systems always have at least one factor that
  limits its growth. This factor can change over
  time.
• Delays in systems
• Bounded Rationality people make reasonable
  decisions based on the information they have, but
  they dont have perfect information, especially
  about more distant parts of the system.

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Qualitative Aspects of Systems Thinking

• System Traps and opportunities
• Policy Resistance Fixes that fail
• Tragedy of the Commons
• Drift to low performance
• Escalation-Success to the successful
• Shifting the Burden to the Intervenor

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Qualitative Aspects of Systems Thinking

• Leverage Points Places to Intervene in a system

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Quantitative Aspects
Version 2a Learning Systems Thinking from a
student perspective
12
Quantitative Aspects
Version 2b Systems Thinking Endorsement from a
program perspective