Systems Theory and Curriculum Design

Some blog followers might be interested in a recent discussion-list post “Systems Theory and Curriculum Design” [Hake (2012)]. The abstract reads:

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ABSTRACT: PhysLrnR’s Alfred Louro pointed to Marion Brady’s Washington Post comment at http://wapo.st/OmgXvY (paraphrasing): “I think the tests and the Common Core State Standards http://www.corestandards.org/ on which they're based are blocking consideration of the most promising educational innovation in the last century - the use of general systems theory as a tool for reshaping and radically simplifying the ‘core curriculum.’ ”

Brady has explained his systems-based curriculum in his book What's Worth Learning at http://bit.ly/fAaI6Z - for comments see e.g. Bernstein at http://bit.ly/htqJQN and Hake at http://bit.ly/fA8aC6.

For an introduction to “Systems Thinking” see “Over Two-Hundred Annotated References on Systems Thinking” [Hake (2009)] at http://bit.ly/9gZdXU (1.7 MB).
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To access the complete 10 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/LAgknl.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Links to Articles: http://bit.ly/a6M5y0
Links to SDI Labs: http://bit.ly/9nGd3M
Blog: http://bit.ly/9yGsXh
Twitter http://bit.ly/juvd52
GooglePlus: http://bit.ly/KwZ6mE

“The ability to reduce everything to simple fundamental laws does not imply the ability to start from those laws and reconstruct the universe. . . . . at each level of complexity entirely new properties appear, and the understanding of the new behaviors requires research which I think is as fundamental in its nature as any other.”
- P.W. Anderson in “More is Different” (1972)


REFERENCES [URL shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 08 July 2012.
Anderson, P.W. 1972. “More is Different: Broken symmetry and the nature of the hierarchical structure of science,” Science 177 (4047): 393-396; online as a 1.2 MB pdf at http://bit.ly/e4Dv8D.

Hake, R.R. 2012. “Systems Theory and Curriculum Design,” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/LAgknl. Post of 8 Jul 2012 15:12:30-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.

Reform of STEM Education Requires A Systems Approach

Some blog followers might be interested in a recent discussion-list post “Reform of STEM Education Requires A Systems Approach” [Hake (2012)]. The abstract reads:

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ABSTRACT: Lees Stuntz (2012), executive director of “Creative Learning Exchange” http://clexchange.org/ called attention to an AAAS News Release “Systemic School Reform Necessary for Science Education Improvements” at http://bit.ly/xNfuW0 . The release indicated that improving education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) would require a new SYSTEMS APPROACH that “views education as part of a larger, more complex enterprise that reaches far beyond the classroom.” To dig deeper on “systems thinking” see e.g.: “Over Two-Hundred Annotated References on Systems Thinking,” at http://bit.ly/9gZdXU and “Books for Laypersons on Systems Thinking #2” at http://bit.ly/npq5oy.
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To access the complete 9 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/xcv0bR.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands
President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References
which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)

rrhake@earthlink.net
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi
http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com
http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake

“Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.”
H. G. Wells (1920) in The Outline of History

REFERENCES [All URL’s shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 25 Jan 2012.]
Hake, R.R. 2012. “Reform of STEM Education Requires A Systems Approach” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/xcv0bR. Post of 25 Jan 2012 11:12:56-0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.

Wells, H.G. 1920. The Outline of History. For a Wikipedia entry which discusses the interesting history of this treatise see http://bit.ly/yCkMjN. For Amazon.com information on a two volume set published in 1949 by Garden City Books see http://amzn.to/yvpDwU

Re: Limits to Growth

Some blog followers might be interested in a discussion-list post “Re: Limits to Growth” [Hake (2011)].

The abstract reads:

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ABSTRACT: SClistserv’s Michael Beverley (2011) in his post “Limits to Growth” wrote (paraphrasing) “Does anyone recall a discussion concerning the book ‘Limits to Growth’ on the listserve?”

Rick Kubina responded by giving references to Meadows et al. (1972, 2004) and to the UTube video of Albert Bartlett's popular discussion of “Arithmetic, Population, and Energy” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY - as of 12 August 2011 10:24-0700 the video had been observed 2,894,868 times!

I give 8 references to the work of Donella and Dennis Meadows [including Meadows et al. (1972, 2004)] that were derived from:

(a) “Over Two-Hundred Annotated References on Systems Thinking” [Hake (2009a) at http://bit.ly/9gZdXU ];

(b) “Misconceptions in the Population/Energy Debate #2” [Hake (2009b) at http://bit.ly/qeG9bs]; and

(c) 10 posts of mine containing the word “Meadows” on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/cuxhel .

I then contrast the rosy outlook on the future of SClistserv’s Michael Lamport Commons (2011) of the Harvard Medical School with the less sanguine predictions of Dennis Meadows – see the signature quote.
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To access the complete 17 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/oO3oMk .


Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands
President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References
which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)

rrhake@earthlink.net
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi
http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com
http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake

“The global society, and particularly the US, is like a small boatload of people about to enter a long stretch of white water and rapids. For the foreseeable future we will be totally preoccupied with immediate problems and far too distracted to develop and implement a rational long term plan. Eventually, after climate change, fossil fuel depletion, and several other manifestations of the growth limits have produced some new sort of semi stable state, with a MUCH lower population and material standard of living, our species will hopefully be able to start identifying, choosing, and pursuing its longer term options. I do not expect to be alive when that time comes.”
Dennis Meadows, private communication of 17 November
2009 to R.R. Hake, quoted by permission.


REFERENCES [URL’s shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 12 August 2011.]
Hake, R.R. 2011. “Re: Limits to Growth,” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/oO3oMk . Post of 12 Aug 2011 11:43:23-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to various discussion lists and are also on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at with a provision for comments.

What's Worth Learning?

Some blog followers might be interested in discussion-list post “What's Worth Learning” [Hake (2011)].

The abstract reads:

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ABSTRACT: Kenneth Bernstein http://huff.to/gAtYnU has recently reviewed system thinker Marion Brady’s (2010) http://www.marionbrady.com/ book What's Worth Learning. Bernstein quotes Brady as follows:

“Systems are what learners must understand, and that understanding comes from learners themselves investigating many different systems, looking for general principles. This requires (1) noting significant parts of the system being studied, (2) identifying important relationships among those parts, (3) deciding what forces are making the systems operate, (4) noting the interactions between the system and its environment, and (5) tracking changes to the system over time. . . . . . . . If learners apply these five general analytical categories over and over, to systems of all sorts, the categories will give them a mental framework - a way of organizing what is learned.”

For references on systems thinking see “Over Two-Hundred Annotated References on Systems Thinking” [Hake (2009)] at http://bit.ly/9gZdXU (1.8 MB), and Linda Booth Sweeney's website http://bit.ly/goPTkC listing books and research articles on systems thinking for children.

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To access the complete 12 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/fA8aC6.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University

Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands

President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)

rrhake@earthlink.net

http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake

http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi

http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com

http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake

“The ability to reduce everything to simple fundamental laws does not imply the ability to start from those laws and reconstruct the universe. . . . . at each level of complexity entirely new properties appear, and the understanding of the new behaviors requires research which I think is as fundamental in its nature as any other.”

- P.W. Anderson in “More is Different” (1972)

REFERENCES [All URL's accessed on 24 March 2011 and shortened by http://bit.ly/.]

Anderson, P.W. 1972. “More is Different: Broken symmetry and the nature of the hierarchical structure of science,” Science 177 (4047): 393-396; online as a 1.2 MB pdf at http://bit.ly/e4Dv8D.

Brady, Marion. 2010. What's Worth Learning. Information Age Publishing, publisher's information at http://bit.ly/fAaI6Z. Amazon.com information at http://amzn.to/hV9irc. An expurgated Google book preview is online at http://bit.ly/hWpklM.

Hake, R.R. 2011. “What's Worth Learning?” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/fA8aC6. Post of 29 Mar 2011 29 Mar 2011 17:23:33-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being distributed to various discussion lists.

Re: How can we make people fall in love with systems ideas?

Some blog followers might be interested in a post "Re: How can we make people fall in love with systems ideas?" [Hake (2010)]. The abstract reads:

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ABSTRACT: Bob Williams of the Eval-Sys list asked: "How can we make people [concerned with evaluation] fall in love with systems ideas?" More generally how can we make people in fields such as Ecology, Economics, Education, Engineering, and Physics fall in love with systems ideas? For a dilettante's attempt to introduce neophytes to "Systems Thinking" see "Over TwoHundred Annotated References on Systems Thinking" [Hake (2010)] at http://bit.ly/9gZdXU.

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To access the complete 9 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/9xg49D .

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University

Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands

President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)

rrhake@earthlink.net

http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake

http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi

http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com

http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake

"The global society, and particularly the US, is like a small boatload of people about to enter a long stretch of white water and rapids. For the foreseeable future we will be totally preoccupied with immediate problems and far too distracted to develop and implement a rational long term plan. Eventually, after climate change, fossil fuel depletion, and several other manifestations of the growth limits have produced some new sort of semi stable state, with a MUCH lower population and material standard of living, our species will hopefully be able to start identifying, choosing, and pursuing its longer term options. I do not expect to be alive when that time comes."

Dennis Meadows, private communication of 17 November 2009 to R.R. Hake, quoted by permission.

REFERENCES [URL'shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 16 November 2010.]

Hake, R.R. 2010. "Re: How can we make people fall in love with systems ideas?" online on the OPEN AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/9xg49D. Post of 16 Nov 2010 09:38:10 -0800 to AERA-L, Eval-Sys, & Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to various discussion lists.

Books for Laypersons on Systems Thinking #2

Some blog followers might be interested in a recent post "Books for Laypersons on Systems Thinking" [Hake (2010b)]. The abstract reads:

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ABSTRACT: In response to a post of 19 Dec 2009 titled "Over Two-Hundred Annotated References on Systems Thinking" [Hake (2009)], author Scott Berkun asked "Do you have any recommendations on books for laypersons on systems thinking?" I relayed Berkun's question to EvalSys, EvalTalk, & K-12SysDyn in a post of 4 April 2010 titled "Any Recommendations on Books for Laypersons on Systems Thinking?" [Hake (2010a)]. Herein are the eight responses to that question that were received, plus two earlier suggestions for additions to "Over Two-Hundred Annotated References on Systems Thinking."

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To access the complete 31 kB post please click on http://tinyurl.com/29msedo .

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University

Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands

President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)

rrhake@earthlink.net

http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake

http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi

http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com

http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake

REFERENCES [Tiny URL’s courtesy http://tinyurl.com/create.php .]

Hake, R.R. 2009. "Over Two-Hundred Annotated References on Systems Thinking," online at http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/200RefsSystems2c.pdf (1.7 MB) and as reference #58 at http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/. The abstract and link to the complete report were transmitted to various discussion lists on 19 December 2009 and also appear athttp://hakesedstuff.blogspot.com/2009/12/over-two-hundred-annotated-references.html with a provision for comments.

Hake, R.R. 2010a. "Any Recommendations on Books for Laypersons on Systems Thinking?" online on the EvalSys archives at http://tinyurl.com/2exansj . Post of 4 Apr 2010 to EvalSys, EvalTalk, & K-12SysDyn.

Hake, R.R. 2010b. "Books for Laypersons on Systems Thinking," online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://tinyurl.com/29msedo . Post of 9 May 2010 15:40:23-0700 to AERA-L and NetGold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to various discussion lists.

Over Two-Hundred Annotated References on Systems Thinking

Some blog followers may be interested a compilation [Hake (2009)] of the above title. The abstract reads:

ABSTRACT: This 1.7 MB compilation of over 200 annotated references andover 300 hot-linked URL’s provides a window into the vast literature on “Systems Thinking.”

Systems Thinking is characterized by the consideration of natural, scientific, engineered, human, or conceptual entities as systems in which the component parts interact with one another and with other systems so as to produce emergent properties which cannot be understood through analysis of the single parts of the system.

Examples are provided by twelve quotes of systems thinkers.

References are given in alphabetical order with superscripts that indicate their origin in the following categories: Ecology, Economics, Education, Engineering, Evaluation, General, and Physics.

To access the complete compilation please click on http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/200RefsSystems2c.pdf (1.78 MB).

REFERENCES

Hake, R.R. 2009. "Over Two-Hundred Annotated References on Systems Thinking," online at http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/200RefsSystems2c.pdf (1.7 MB) and as reference #58 at http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/.