“Why Use Systems Thinking In the Classroom?”

“Why Use Systems Thinking In the Classroom?”

“FREE REPORT”

My name is D. Ross Leadbetter M.Ed.  I’ve been studying systems thinking in education for 17 years.  I am still at it.  Enough about me, let’s answer the question.

World renowned systems thinker, Peter Senge, said in his book Schools That Learn that through the use of systems thinking we can actively develop an awareness of complexity, interdependence, change, and leverage.  Those are good things for all of us to develop!

Consider this quote from Einstein:

“You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it.

You must learn to see the world anew.”

Enough said? Of course we all know that we have to think differently in our emerging world; thereby, as educators, we must teach children to think differently – to see the world anew.

But HOW does systems thinking do this?

Consider this quote from Sir Ken Robinson Ph.D. in his book The Element: “If you have never learned to think creatively and to explore your true capacity, what will you do then?  More specifically, what will our children do if we continue to prepare them for life using the old models of education?”

We HAVE to change how we teach, and systems thinking ADDS to what you already do; it unleashes the interactive and creative power of you and your students.

Systems thinking IS creative and visual, and interactive, and contemporary…. definitely, creative and contemporary.

Again, from Sir Ken, same book:  “The human brain is intensely interactive.  You use multiple parts of it in every task you perform.  It is in fact in the dynamic use of the brain – finding new connections between things – that true breakthroughs occur.”

I LOVE THAT QUOTE.  The Human Brain IS Intensely Interactive, and connections DO create breakthroughs!

Systems thinking is a language; it’s a pattern language; a visual language.  It is broadly concerned with exploring interactions, interdependencies, and connections, especially over time.

Systems thinking is intensely interactive because you CREATE and REFINE your thought on paper or on a board, alone or with others!  It engages, involves, and draws in every type of thinker.  It the ultimate tool in your teaching toolbox. REALLY.

Imagine a group of people milling around an emerging diagram – a diagram that everyone helps create, and that doesn’t have to be pretty to be good.  Imagine the powerful conversation and debate as patterns and connections emerge.

Ask, “why does building more roads cause greater road congestion?”  And then get out of the way.

Or, ask “how does spraying to kill one pest quite often cause EVEN GREATER damage to a crop?”  Again, back away from the board….

That’s of course once you have taught the tools.

Now, systems thinking is a circular language and it is diagram-based.  It helps us look for and find causes and effects, relationships, and interdependence… it’s about as real as reality really is! (whew) “We must learn to see anew.”

We finally have a method for teaching concepts

JUST LIKE THINGS HAPPEN IN THE REAL WORLD.

Do YOU want to create GREAT THINKERS? You’ll be surprised at WHICH students are the BEST and most natural systems thinkers.  I WAS.  And I loved it!  Talk about a leveling tool!

Systems thinking as an approach, can create great thinkers for you… for all of us.

Consider Marzano’s discovery: …superior findings (are) reported for visual and dramatic instruction over verbal instruction in terms of percentage of information recalled by students one year after the completion of the unit.

Or, another great quote by Mr. Marzano:  “What is needed…is a comprehensive approach that allows for student construction of meaning while interacting with content, the teacher, and other students.”  (*****YES!*****)

Systems thinking:

• Helps us explore, understand, and share our mental models;
• Examines the patterns and structures that govern our world;
• Is creative, engaging, interesting, graphic, discussion oriented… because,

“People Gather Around Diagrams”

• An approach based on a visual language, thus allowing us to easily present and clarify complex issues by summing up the key elements involved.
• Is focused upon concision, clarity, presentation, and dialogue.
• Translates communication – stories, relationships, key aspects, causes, interdependence and more – into black and white diagrams that are easily understood
• Adds precision to communication.
• Decreases ambiguity.
• Allows us to poke and prod, inquire and examine WITHOUT ruffling feathers.
• Creates a collective view, so then a collective understanding.
• Discussions are not confrontational; they are about building the best representation of the problem or initiative and being able to consider it from differing angles: focusing on diagrams diffuses defensiveness.
• Looks at the whole, not a reduction of parts.

In seconds you can slam a Behavior Over Time Graph up on the board and have groups map out the “POWER” of (1) the Romans, (2) Christianity, (3) the Vikings, (4) the Frankish Kingdoms over a period of 1000 years.  I’ve done it!  It is absolutely engaging! Kids LOVE it.

How about having students use Causal Loop Diagrams to show how drug use affects drug dependency in a circular and reinforcing – vicious cycle.  Again, you step out of the picture as ‘giver’ of information and simply facilitate, illuminate and expand upon the very creative and engaging thoughts of your students!

LET their Minds Free!  Students are amazingly creative and thoughtful, and finally you have a tool that you can use in ALL your classes:

• Relate climate change and dinosaur mortality over time.
• Track a hypothetical virus as it becomes an epidemic.
• Predict the outcomes of ‘sustainable fishing or harvesting’ practices.
• Look BEHIND events to see the patterns and the structures that are creating behavior.
• Lock ideas into diagrams.
• Keep conversations focused.
• See the relationships between problems and solutions.
• Understand complexity.
• Create a visual record.

And, there’s so much more at EVERY level of education, K to Adult

Daily, we use the power of metaphor, story, diagrams, graphic organizers, and models.  Kick it up a level!  With a few systems thinking tools and a comprehensive, tried and true approach, you can ACTIVELY ENGAGE EVERY STUDENT!

See student become completely absorbed whey they solve riddles or search for answers using systems thinking tools.

Inference, cause and effect, circular thinking, prediction, relationships, unintended consequences… THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT YOUR STUDENTS TO BE ABLE TO DO.  Moreover, you want them to WANT to do this!  This is it…

It is here.

Systems thinking in Education: www.edu.systemsandsynergy.com

Ross Leadbetter M.Ed

Join us!

Alignment… That’s what Synergy is all about!

Aligning the Whole Self – Liberating Life-force

A lively spirit, a playful spirit, an old soul, a spritely spirit, a spark in his eyes, her powerful presence, a force to be reckoned with….  We have many ways of recognizing the life-force in us and others.  A playful puppy, a happy child, and a wonderfully meaningful experience each teach us of the generative and connective life-force we have within.  Our life-force is our aliveness.  Life-force is the twinkle of energy behind the eyes, the spark that we see in some and not so much in others.  This most primary form of energy that is the breath of life in all things living is within us, connects us to one another, and connects us to the Universal Consciousness.

Developing and allowing our life-force to flow fully and naturally is supremely wonderful and brings richness and power to our lives.  The process of allowing it to grow and flow within us to maximum capacity is purely a positive one.  Our life-force will grow and flow more freely the more we are either quiet in our conscious mind or are directing thought to positive growth.  Life-force is allowed to flow unobstructed in a vessel that is resonating with positive vibration.  This unrestrictive flow is also related to our state of Natural Being that will be discussed later, where consciousness is given the back seat and Being is given primary focus.  Consider for the sake of increasing this wonderful force, that of thought and emotion, love is the greatest feeling you can generate for increasing life-force followed by gratitude and kindness.  Happy thoughts and feelings, a purposeful life, right action and a healthy body all contribute to the creative development of life-force, and once again the power of conscious thought is inextricably linked to this critical component of our Whole Self.

The control of conscious thought

It just makes sense… if you have four horses you want to pull your wagon, they have to run in the SAME direction to be effective.  So why is it that so many of us have our conscious and unconscious minds, our bodies, and our life force bridled into an an antagonistic dance!?  THAT just doesn’t make sense.  Learn how to get synergy from your systems, right here! Read the rest of this entry »

Where is my mind?

Where is my mind?  If you have ever asked that question, the answer is in the ‘whole self’ as will be explained through this post and through a soon to come video post that provides a diagramatic answer to this important question.

Section 23

The Component Parts of the Whole Self

In the time and space of our present daily existence on this wonderful planet earth, it is the conscious mind that dominates most people; therefore the conscious mind dominates our world.  Raw consciousness is a powerful state of being.  It is your conscious mind that sought out this book and is engaged with reading it now; it is your conscious mind that you use to plan, think, worry, and prepare dinner….  The conscious mind has an important role in our lives; there are other influences however, other parts of your being that are very important.  They are the subconscious mind, the body, and your life-force.  Together with the conscious mind, they constitute the four parts of the Whole Self.  This chapter will fully explore the relationship and the connectedness each part has to the whole.  Through learning about these connections and relationship, you will understand the parts, their roles, and their relationship to one another; then you will know the rules that govern your Whole Self and thereby how to most effectively synergize your state of affluence as a whole person, aligned to a purpose.   Tools, techniques, and actions for you to use will be presented. 

As a brief aside, we of course know that the human condition cannot in reality be cut into four neat and tidy parts and placed in a diagram to be poked and prodded, each part distinct from the other – the human condition is so very much more complicated than that.  But, the human condition can be spoken of and referred to in parts and as a whole and put into diagrams in order to understand and learn.  To do this is to suspend reality in order to pierce it.  A diagram that represents the Whole Self is appended as the last page of this chapter; you might want to look at it for a moment now.  Next, a brief outline of each part of the Whole Self will be provided through the paragraphs immediately below, and a more detailed explanation of each will follow as the chapter progresses. 

The conscious mind: a powerhouse that must be harnessed.  It is the conscious mind that in most people holds the reins of power in the overall relationship of the parts.  It can play a critically positive role, or it can be the maker of misery.  The Ego center of its own world, it is capable of considering information from other parts of the whole and can communicate directly with the subconscious, body, and life-force, yet it is independent and aloof in most people.

The subconscious mind:   a quiet powerhouse that performs many automatic and autonomic functions; it is also a source of inspiration and creative power.  It is also the dutiful servant of the conscious mind.  It carries out orders from the conscious through a non-judgmental communication with body and life-force.  Its strength can be destructive if it is not directed and well-managed.  The subconscious is a powerful tool to be treated with great care.

The body: capable of being a powerhouse, yet too often not.  It is a symbiotic mass of vibrating cells in an alliance with the two minds, given life through life-force, living in this time and space.  The body is a wonderfully complex temple of beauty capable of great strength and service to the wholeness of being, yet it is easily prone to harsh frequencies coming from an unbridled consciousness and its dutiful servant, the subconscious. 

Life-force: the silent pervasive power, it is the essence of love, beauty, acceptance, creation, generative life, desire…. Life-force is the energy of the universe seeking full expression in personal form – it is our spark.  It is each person’s connection to the universal life-force and what I will call Universal Consciousness and you may or may not call God.  It is our connection to life itself and to the essence of other beings.  Please note that when discussing and presenting the concept of life-force, I choose to use the term Universal Consciousness so that I can discuss the concept without delving into religion or philosophy.  I do not intend to nor would I diminish the importance of religion, philosophy, or God; I simply wish to keep out of the debate between various religions and philosophies and keep a respectful position concerned solely with your realization of affluence and purpose.

How to live life as a work of art…

FLOW…

Csikszentmihalyi is one of my favorite writers.  Hardest name in the world to spell and definitely defies pronunciation… but a very engaging writer and thinker.  I have grabbed some content from another site and posted it below.  If you like what you read click on the link I put above — the word FLOW.  Click it and you will go to the site from where this content was posted.  Or… type in < flow csi > in Google and there are over 185 000 hits to look at.  Some video, some books that he has written.  I recommend the book titled FLOW.  Fantastic!!  Much of what you will read in my book posted on this site is related to Csik’s work.  Read the rest of this entry »

What is Systems and Synergy.

There are always good questions and comments regarding Systems and Synergy.  Orlando recently checked in with a nice comment.  In my daily life, people keep asking me questions like: ”So, just what is this systems and synergy you write about.”  I always try to explain with… well, too many words. Then I realized just the other day that to have a practiced, concise answer to this good question is not slick or glib.  I realized that a precise and concise answer is important and necessary.  Here is the answer: Read the rest of this entry »

Grateful Thanks….

I would like to extend a brief thank you to the many who have ordered my book lately….  Is it because it is spring? 

Something has happened and orders have jumped 200% in the last couple of weeks.  Its just fantastic!  Thank you.  Please enjoy; please share. 

In good spirit,

Douglas Leadbetter M.Ed

Beyond Ego-centrism !

Big word — ego-centrism.  It explains young kids.  They believe themselves to be the center of their own worlds.  Their egos are central to their experience.  Somewhere during the toddler years, almost every child has a profound experience of realization.  They realize that they are not in fact the center of the universe.  That they and others share a larger system in a dynamic dance.  Mankind had a similar – albeit slow — realization when the theories of Copernicus in the 1500’s were supported by Galileo in the 1600’s hundreds through the use of the telescope and mathematics.  It was at this time that mankind slowly began to accept that the earth is NOT the center of the universe.  An interesting parallel. 

A funny thing happens when children realize that there are in fact other people that have needs and wants that might conflict with or compete with their own.  They start to group.  A new phase starts and this new phase is punctuated by the coming together with others in ways that allow groups to identify themselves.  It is an extension of ego-centrism that I call social ego-centrism.  The structure of singular ego doesn’t go away, but is largely consumed by and morphed into a group ego.  This group then thinks that they — their likes and dislikes, their drama, triumph, and difficulty — are the center of the universe.  It is from this construct that we see prejudice, distrust of others that are unlike ourselves, stereotypes, and many other less than helpful mindsets that impede growth, development, and performance. 

The question that arises from this discourse is: “in your family, social group, or work-group do you transcend social ego-centrism and discover the liberated capacity for high performance, or do you live within your universe center, unable to see the systems you exist within?”    Gaining objectivity is the gaining of perspective that leads to the ability to change, adapt, leverage for power, and design systems for positive gain.  Living in the center of social ego-centrism is living lost in a tiny yet encompassing universe that generates, feeds upon, and supports itself in impotent ways.

Can your group see itself?

Finding ‘UP’ through Systems Thinking

If you are sick, you really don’t have to do anything… at the very least, people don’t expect much of you.  That’s fair because most people feel a little low now and then and getting cut a little slack can go a long way to recovery.

BUT

What if there is no direction for a recovery?  To recover, you are returning to a state of balance and if you don’t know what or where that balance is you don’t know what direction to head for an optimal state of being. Kind of like jumping from a height into a lake and losing the ‘UP’direction for a moment.  That’s a bad moment.  It feels very out of control.   Now, what about organizations?  What if they are ’sick’ and no one expects much of them because they don’t have the talent, the funding, the facilities, the management team, the support, the recognition….  What if your organization is sick and you are floating along with no where to recover to?  No ‘up’.

What if?

You have to know where you are going in order to get there…. That’s what forecasting is all about and planning.  Do they work?  If the road you are driving on leads to a cliff, then all the planning in the world, all the best talent on board, the best equipment etcetera will not mean much by the time you reach the end of the journey!  Forecasts and planning must be made in health and plan for health.  A sick organization is not the best planner.  Its like a sick person.  It just wants to get better and lays low and does its best to recover.  Luckily for individuals, we are — most of us — able to return to relative health after being ill.  Thankfully, gratefully, we return to health.  An organziation doesn’t have such sophisticated organizing power as does the magnificent human body… so, it needs to see itself as a system — and within the system that it inhabits — before it can find its up.

The systems thinking exercise in objectivity is done through symbolic conversation.  Using symbols to ‘tell the story’ of the organization helps everyone first SEE what the parts make and then realize — collectively — just WHAT the organization is.  After this, purpose and direction are determined.  And THEN strategies can be implemented — but ONLY those that make sense in terms of the system’s organization, structure and capacity.  And, all along the way the tools of systems — the symbolic language of organizing — are used for deep conversation and clarification.  They are used to CREATE the organization’s picture and its story.  Complete a systems thinking exercise in objectivity and you are ready to apply energy and find the correct times and places to influence for gain, for good, for improvement.  Its the only way that works.  It is the way.

Douglas Leadbetter M.Ed.

Systems Thinking in Daily Life: A to B

Proactive systems thinking is the best kind of systems thinking.  If you can make a change in a process or situation or system so that you don’t have to ‘react’ later on, then you are using systems thinking to your best advantage.  Sure, systems thinking can be used to ferret out problems and solve problems, but its that ‘problem’ word that we would like to get rid of because if you are not dealing with problems, then you are able to focus more of your energy on opportunities.

In the diagram above a simple visual aids in explaining the benefit of understanding your system and using that knowledge to apply change effort strategically.  Here’s the basic idea:  you want to move the line from 1 to 8 over time.  The angle of change that you can employ is limited to one grid of ascension per grid of time.  So for you math types, its a rise and run equation.  For every cell moved along the ‘x’ axis you are able to move one grid upwards on the ‘y’ axis.  This is really simple but powerful.  Look.

 In instance ‘A’ they waited until the fourth unit of time before implementing the change at the prescribed angle.

In instance ‘B’ the change was made in the second unit of time to impliment the change at the prescribed angle.

Look at the difference!  In ‘B’, using the EXACT same angle of change as in ‘A’ you finish at 6 rather than 4!  Simple?  Yes.  So simple that people forget about the power of proactive change?  In way too many instances people do not examine their systems and find areas of influence.  Far too often, people wait until a problem occurs, thus using vital energy that COULD be used for increasing positive possibility.  All the best. 

Douglas Leadbetter  M.Ed.

Systems Thinking in Daily Life: variation

You must read this post! It contains important information about your application of simple systems concepts to daily living both as an individual and as a member of a group. The assumption made throughout this post is that you would like to increase the occurrence of positive moments, actions, and directions for yourself and for your group(s). If this statement rings true for you, then have a look at how understanding variation gives you power.

Everything in our world is subject to variation. This is easiest to see in organic organisms in cycles such as sleep, growth, decay, times of high energy and times of low energy. The variation of inorganic organisms with the rhythms of electron orbits and string vibration is not as important to this topic, so we’ll leave that for another time. We are living organisms that have variation in our daily cycles of life. The key question to this post is “can we affect these variations to lessen the bad and increase the good?” YES!

Let’s first look at a hypothetical variation graph. This one will represent the variation we see in ourselves and groups with highs and lows in our states of mind, our peak functioning, our effectiveness, success… etc.

In this simple representation of variation, the vertical or ‘y’ axis represents highs and lows. The upper peak of each of the curves represent positive, and the lower peaks represent less positive or negative. The horizontal or ‘x’ axis represents time. So, in a simple analysis of this particular graph we can see that the curved line represents movement between positive and negative states over time. The constant horizontal arrow represents the midline or base state.

So, how do we get more of the ‘good’ and less of the ‘bad’?  One secret for both individuals and for groups lies in the arrow.  The arrow is the midline of contentment… or simply, being.  Think about the diagram and think about yourself.  When you are on a ‘high’ it feels pretty good.  You are elated, full of energy, electric.  When you are on a low, it doesn’t feel good; lows are just low and not any fun at all.  The midline though… it’s quiet contentment.  Just being is a nice place to be.

Think about this in a group.  Have you ever been in a group where a member is trying to hard to ‘make’ something happen?  They are trying to make things fun or they are trying to show themselves off… or, or, or.  You know what this feels like.  It’s tense.  Maybe you are lucky enough to have been or be part of a team or a work-group where everyone is content… wow!  That’s the place where things get done!  A contented person will work harder, longer, care more, and do more for the company or group and for their co-workers.  Read the studies on successful corporations, and you will see that this has been proved as truth over and over again. 

So, the question now remains, “how do we get to the arrow?”  Or a question like that would do.  Well, as individuals we try to simply ‘be’.  I explain this in great detail in my book.  There’s a bit of letting go and there’s a bit of constructing thought.  There’s a dynamic tension, but its attainable and in quite practical ways.  In groups, you need to define what a simple contentment looks and feels like.  Everyone wants to come to work to do a good job, feel good about their work, and go home feeling they have done a good day of work.  The problem is in the systems we set up around us.  There are things that frustrate and confound in every organization and without a good or even a professional facilitator to help you address your situation objectively,  you are often doomed to steep in your own self-created mess.

Seeing systems is half the solution.  Truly.  The other half is in learning how to direct the natural flow of systems.  Not so much trying to control, but working to steer and direct.  Its a soft science kind of like the soft martial arts that would rather redirect the energy of another and not meet it head on.  Why ‘take on’ your systems when you can influence them? 

There’s another place to focus upon for both groups and individuals and that is in the ascending curve just as it passes the midline of the arrow.  At that moment, one should work towards building the next success.  Build on the upswing.  Direct thought and action to the attainment of positive success at the upswing and you can move from one success to the next. Charles Handy, in The Empty Raincoat discusses this with charming alacrity as it applies to business success.  It applies to individuals as well.  Athletes do it all the time.  When they have achieved one level of a training cycle and got that success under control they reach for another, higher level of success.  If an athlete spends too much ‘down time’ they lose all their gains and have to fight twice as hard to train their way out.  No, the smart ones build success upon success.  A jet airliner spends a lot of fuel to get off the ground, but once up they use far less.  Its like that in our understanding of variation.  Think about, construct and direct success as you experience success and continually reach for the next success.  This is a powerful mental model for you to begin using.  Comments?  Tell me about a time you have used any part of these ideas.  Tell everyone about using them successfully in the next few weeks.  It works.  That’s all.