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

# Developing a tool for the assessment of systems thinking in K-12 settings

Schilling and Grohs, 2023, IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE 2023); Department of Engineering Education, Virginia Tech (NSF PAR) — Education

Patterns: [Relationships](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/relationships), [Perspectives](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/perspectives)

## In short

Draws on Cabrera's DSRP as a domain-general account of systems thinking to design and pilot a new assessment instrument for K-12 learners.

## What they found (results)

Existing K-12 assessments are domain-specific and transfer poorly; the tool measures identifying contextual and technical aspects, stakeholders and their needs, goals, and unintended consequences, piloted on problems relevant to students' own lives.

## What they set out to do (purpose)

An IEEE Frontiers in Education work-in-progress developing a domain-general tool to assess systems thinking in K-12 settings, adapted from a published undergraduate instrument.

## Abstract

Systems thinking is a skill that enables students to grapple with complex problems, often to which there is no clear problem definition or solution, there are many stakeholders, and there are many systems involved (e.g. sociotechnical or socioecological systems). Fostering the development of systems thinking skills is crucial as the problems students encounter in their lives, and in formal and informal educational settings, are increasingly complex. Ongoing research points to the need for more domain-general tools to assess systems thinking in a variety of K-12 settings. Many existing tools or methods used to assess systems thinking in K-12 are often domain specific (e.g. the water cycle in environmental science) and do not always transfer well to more complex problems across content areas. Furthermore, grounding the development of systems thinking skills in the locally relevant contexts that inform and affect students' day-to-day lives also offers the opportunity for students to engage in problems they find interesting and in which they may connect more deeply. This work-in-progress paper presents the development of a general tool informed by existing research in systems thinking and pedagogical practices in K-12 settings. The initial tool development is based on an existing published tool that has been used in undergraduate settings that challenges students to consider an ill-structured problem based on a real world scenario, in which a rubric was defined and applied to measure different systems thinking competencies. The existing tool measures students' ability to identify various contextual and technical aspects of a problem, to identify various stakeholders and stakeholder needs, and to identify short-term goals, long-term goals, and unintended consequences of potential solutions. Knowledge and experience from the development of this tool will be used to pilot an assessment with K-12 students to measure their systems thinking skills in problems that are relevant to them and their experiences.

These researchers were not testing DSRP. The finding is theirs; the correspondence to DSRP is drawn by this site.

[Source](https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10489494)