Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework that serves as a guide to develop a curriculum and instructional strategy that is systems oriented and student-centric. Design/methodology/approach: The framework is based on the theories in the field of education by prominent researchers. The framework is divided into four sub-systems,…

Systems thinking (ST) is an approach advocating thinking about any given issue as a whole, emphasising the interrelationships between its components rather than the components themselves. This article aims to link ST and school leadership, claiming that ST may enable school principals to develop highly performing schools that can cope successfully…

Background: This article draws on the literature relating to game-centred approaches (GCAs), such as Teaching Games for Understanding, and dynamical systems views of motor learning to demonstrate a convergence of ideas around games as complex adaptive learning systems. This convergence is organized under the title "complexity thinking"…

This review essay discusses the history, evolution and development of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and traces the growing impact of its education work. The essay is in four main sections. The first discusses Carrol and Kellow's "The OECD: A Study of Organizational Adaptation" (Edward Elgar) and…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to show the foundational place that communication theory and its practice occupies in functioning work systems. Design/methodology/approach: This paper defines the word communication in terms of the creation and interpretation of displays, describes what it means to have a theoretical foundation for a…

Japanese language learners' proclivity for silence has been alluded to by various writers (e.g. Anderson 1993; Korst 1997; Greer 2000) and is supported by plenty of anecdotal evidence, but large-scale, empirical studies aimed at measuring the extent of macro-level silence within Japanese university L2 classrooms are notably lacking. This article…

The first computer-assisted career planning systems were developed in the late 1960s and were based soundly on the best of career development and decision-making theory. Over the years, this tradition has continued as the technology that delivers these systems' content has improved dramatically and as they have been universally accepted as…

Complex systems are an important topic in science education today, but they are usually difficult for secondary-level students to learn. Although graphic simulations have many advantages in teaching complex systems, scaffolding is a critical factor for effective learning. This dissertation study was conducted around two complementary research…

This supplement of "Health Education & Behavior" showcases the current state of the field of systems science applications in health promotion and public health. Behind this work lies a steady stream of public dollars at the federal level. This perspective details nearly a decade of investment by the National Institutes of…

What does it take to transform a large, bureaucratic institution with a fractured culture and a compliance orientation into a nurturing, collaborative, vision-directed organization? This report and the accompanying research brief endeavor to answer that question by examining a humanistic and systems thinking approach to cultural change that took…

In this study, we interviewed victims of bias incidents and members of a bias response team to investigate the process the team used to respond to incidents. Incidents included acts of sexism, homophobia, and racism on a large, predominantly White research university in the Midwest. Data were analyzed using a 4-stage coding process. The emergent…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the characteristics and practices of principals in four successful Singapore primary schools. Design/Methodology/Approach: Multiple perspective case studies were used which included semi-structured interviews with the principal, teaching and non-teaching staff, students, parents and school board…

In this first of a two-part series, the authors report that STEM is still mostly science and mathematics, taught separately with little or no attention to technology and engineering. Where connections do get made to technology and engineering, too often they happen through several disconnected projects that lack coherence in content standards and…

Effective partnerships for education reform "require that schools view parents and communities not simply as customers or clients but as partners in the educational process" (Sanders, 2009, p. 1695). In 2012, seven Seattle area school districts and the Puget Sound Educational Service District (the PSESD) were awarded funding for the Road…

This article proposes a Batesonian systems thinking and ecology of mind approach to enacting curriculum. The key ideas for the model include ecology of mind, relationships, systems, systems thinking, pattern thinking, abductive thinking, and context. These ideas provide a basis for a recursive, three-part model involving developing (a) depth of…