The Systems Thinking Playbook: Exercises to Stretch and Build Learning and Systems Thinking Capabilities

by Sweeney, Linda Booth

• ISBN13: 9781603582582
• ISBN10: 1603582584
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-30
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Pub Co

Summary

This book has become a favorite of K-12 teachers, university faculty, and corporate consultants. It provides short gaming exercises that illustrate the subtleties of systems thinking. The companion DVD shows the authors introducing and running each of the thirty games. The thirty games are classified by these areas of learning: Systems Thinking, Mental Models, Team Learning, Shared Vision, and Personal Mastery. Each description clearly explains when, how, and why the game is useful. There are explicit instructions for debriefing each exercise as well as a list of all required materials. A summary matrix has been added for a quick glance at all thirty games. When you are in a hurry to find just the right initiative for some part of your course, the matrix will help you find it. Linda Booth Sweeney and Dennis Meadows both have many years of experience in teaching complex concepts. This book reflects their insights. Every game works well and provokes a deep variety of new insights about paradigms, system boundaries, causal-loop diagrams, reference modes, and leverage points. Each of the thirty exercises here was tested and refined many times until it became a reliable source of learning. Some of the games are adapted from classics of the outdoor education field. Others are completely new. But all of them complement readings and lectures to help participants understand intuitively the principles of systems thinking.

Table of Contents

Guiding Ideas	p. 1
The Ways of A Systems Thinker
The Role of Games in Teaching Systems Thinking
Design Consideration
Creating an Environment for Learning
Degree of Physical Challenge
Framing Techniques: Ways to introduce Learning Exercises
Going for the insights: Debriefing Tips
Selecting Exercises
Summary Matrix of Games	p. 12
Games
Mind Grooving	p. 15
Color, Furniture, Flower
Everything But "Sleep"
Oak, Joke, Croak
Arms Crossed	p. 22
Circles in the Air	p. 25
Thumb Wrestling	p. 30
Chevreul's Pendulum	p. 34
Warped Juggle	p. 38
Toothpick Teaser	p. 45
Five Easy Pieces	p. 50
Community Maze	p. 54
Teeter Totter	p. 61
Hands Down	p. 68
Web of Life	p. 75
Moon Ball	p. 83
Paper Tear	p. 91
Belief Release	p. 96
Balancing Tubes	p. 103
Touch Base	p. 109
Squaring the Circle	p. 114
1-2-3 GO!	p. 120
Dog Biscuits & See Saws	p. 125
Frames	p. 132
Postcard Stories	p. 146
Paper Fold	p. 158
Monologue/Dialogue	p. 170
Living Loops	p. 179
Harvest	p. 196
Triangles	p. 205
Avalanche	p. 215
Space for Living	p. 227
Group Juggle	p. 237
About the Co-Authors and Illustrator	p. 252
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