[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Teaching the Systems Rule

## Details

**Authors** van Dongen

**Year** 2025

**Publisher** 21st Century Economics

**Kind of work** article

**Discipline** Education

**Kind of engagement** applications

[Read it](https://www.21steconomics.org/teaching-the-systems-rule/)

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

A classroom-methods post on teaching the Systems rule — that every whole has parts and every part can be treated as a whole.

### What they found (results)

The sequence starts with tangible objects like a bicycle, practices zooming in and out, then moves to intangibles such as fairness and trust before reaching economic ideas like household and income.

## Commentary

### In short

Van Dongen translates the DSRP Systems pattern into teaching practice through the part-whole rule and the associated zoom-in and zoom-out moves.

**Patterns it shows** S

**Added** 2026-08-14

**How to cite this** van Dongen (2025). Teaching the Systems Rule. 21st Century Economics.