System dynamics as an organizing framework for pre‐college education

Jay W. Forrester

System Dynamics Review, 1993, vol. 9, issue 2, 183-194

Abstract: Pre‐college education is under attack for poorly serving the needs of society. Unless a superior concept for improving education emerges, public displeasure is apt to result in still more of what is already not working. But now, a fundamentally new and more effective approach to education is emerging from advances in system dynamics. System dynamics offers a framework for giving cohesion, meaning, and motivation to public school education at all levels. A second important ingredient, learner‐centered learning, imports to pre‐college education die challenge and excitement of a research laboratory. Together, these two innovations harness the creativity, curiosity, and energy of young people. System dynamics improves on the traditional educational sequence, in which years of learning facts precede use of those facts, by introducing synthesis at an early stage in a student's experience. Such synthesis can be based on facts that even elementary school students have already gleaned from life. Learner centered learning relieves teachers from having to lecture facts to resistant students. Learners take charge of their own learning as they explore, gather information, and create unity out of their educational experiences. A teacher in this new setting acts as a guide and participating learner rather than as an authoritarian source of all wisdom.

Date: 1993
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/sdr.4260090207

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:sysdyn:v:9:y:1993:i:2:p:183-194

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0883-7066

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in System Dynamics Review from System Dynamics Society
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().