Integral to fostering computational thinking (CT) skills, which are increasingly essential in today's digital era, has been the shift of paper-based pictorial modeling activities to computational modeling. Research has indicated that modeling activities can advance students' understanding of a system's mechanism (i.e., systems thinking), such as…

Understanding the world around us is a growing necessity for the whole public, as citizens are required to make informed decisions in their everyday lives about complex issues. Systems thinking (ST) is a promising approach for developing solutions to various problems that society faces and has been acknowledged as a crosscutting concept that…

This paper addresses the question of why young Australians with intellectual disability (ID) remain underrepresented in open employment despite significant investment by various stakeholders. It uses the analogy of Whack-a-Mole (an arcade game) to draw attention to the complexity young people face during transition, and to illustrate how…

Systems thinking in chemistry education (STICE) has been proposed as an approach that could better equip students with abilities to connect their chemistry knowledge with other disciplines and with the skills needed to tackle complex global issues. However, educational change in chemistry is a complex effort that involves many interconnected…

Youth is a dynamically developing social group that actively participates in the reproduction process of the social and professional structure of society. The complication of production processes and rapid scientific and technological progress increase the importance of this social group in Russian society. This scientific article attempts to…

As the world faces increasingly complex issues, there is a recognition in many disciplines that the existing paradigm of reductionist and linear thinking is not enough to address these issues. The agriculture, food, and natural resources fields are facing a host of issues that defy solutions in part because of the level of complexity. Systems…

The main aim of this study is to teach students to take a systems perspective in understanding complex biological problems. Two lessons were designed and tested in two secondary classes (15- to 16-year-old students), using a lesson study approach. Three students from each class were observed more closely when visualizing and reasoning about two…

The main goal of this research is to study the effect of modelling with system dynamics on learning. Specifically, this research studies if using inductive or deductive learning methods applied during modelling with system dynamics has any effect on problem solving skills of students. This research has three other goals: Firstly, the successful…

The purpose of this study is to develop Education Value Perception Scale (EVPS) based on Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory and to investigate its psychometric properties according to Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT). The data were collected from 2872 secondary school students by stratified purposeful sampling method.…

Project EQuIPD--Engaging Quality Instruction through Professional Development--sought to establish and test for efficacy a professional development model to produce highly qualified teachers in STEM practices for all children, especially for students who are in traditionally underserved schools and districts within the State of Florida. The…

It is widely recognized that segregation processes are often the result of complex nonlinear dynamics. Empirical analyses of complex dynamics are however rare, because there is a lack of appropriate empirical modeling techniques that are capable of capturing complex patterns and nonlinearities. At the same time, we know that many social phenomena…

We discuss here conceptual change and the formation of robust learning outcomes from the viewpoint of complex dynamic systems (CDS). The CDS view considers students' conceptions as context dependent and multifaceted structures which depend on the context of their application. In the CDS view the conceptual patterns (i.e. intuitive conceptions…

Recent research on what students know about complex systems shows that they typically have challenges in understanding particular system ideas such as nonlinearity, complex causality, and decentralized control. Yet this research has yet to adopt a systematic approach to learning about complex systems in an ordered way in line with the Next…

Creativity has been emerging as a key concept in educational policies since the mid-1990s, with many Western countries restructuring their education systems to embrace innovative approaches likely to stimulate creative and critical thinking. But despite current intentions of putting more emphasis on creativity in education policies worldwide,…

School instruction is critical for helping students use energy as a lens for making sense of phenomena, however, students often struggle to see the usefulness of energy analysis for interpreting the world around them. One reason for this may be an over-reliance on the idea of energy forms in introductory energy instruction, which may…