Systems Thinking Pedagogy and Praxis: Course Design to Support Clarity in Purpose

Calls for supporting systems thinking across the educational spectrum and in diverse formal and non-formal educational and community contexts are pervasive. Educators can leverage systems thinking to support learners and participants in myriad ways, but this demands clarity of purpose and quality instructional design. I developed a novel, interdisciplinary graduate course, titled Systems Thinking Pedagogy and Praxis, to support current and future educators in this work. Drawing graduate students from diverse fields, the course is structured as an interdisciplinary learning community, centering the systems of interest to students throughout. Class activities and discussions help students to (1) differentiate foundational complex systems ideas and systems thinking perspectives and (2) evaluate a range of systems approaches for their utility in educational and community contexts. Through modeling, experience, and reflection, students are supported in their ability to implement teaching and learning strategies for promoting systems thinking in their own practice. Major course assignments were developed to support students in designing an educational intervention or tool to foster systems thinking in a real-world educational and/or community context. Educators and faculty developers in higher education can use strategies from this course and the backward design approach in a variety of disciplinary contexts.