Systems thinking is the ability to describe and/ or visualise a part of a complex reality,express that part of reality as a model, understand the model as a system, use the model to explain the behaviour of the system, anticipate the behaviour of the system, and evaluate its impacts on sustainable development, identify potential points of, and types of interventions, generate options to act, assess their impacts in the frame of sustainable development, and decide whether further actions are necessary or not.
What is the aim?
To enable learners to:
- enrich the description of reality they created in Step 1, and
- transfer this description into a model (a simplified picture or depiction of a part of reality)of a static situation (see Information Sheet ‘What is a model?’)
- assess the quality of a model
Activities, tasks, and suggested learning methods
In this Step, learners should:
- identify elements and (inter)relationships from the description,
- express the (inter)relationships between the elements, such as stocks and flows of information/ communication, energy, and physical materials
- identify the function or purpose of the system (which are shaped by perceptions, values, cultural aspects, rules, economic drivers, or other needs and drivers etc of people in the system)
- consider additional knowledge to enrich the description of the reality or situation
Ultimately, the learners should develop and explain the structure of the model.
Activity: “A potato chip is made of…”
Material
Potato chips package
Procedure
- The learners review the nutrition facts on a package of potato chips. They can continue with the same package of chips that they started to describe in Step 1.
- They work in groups and use the brainstormingmethod to list the elements related to the nutrition from potato chips and complete the following table.
- Give a hint to the learners to keep in mind the two perspectives related to nutrition: what nutrients are present in the food, and how the body takes in the nutrients.
| Element | Interrelationship |
| Mouth | Breakdown the food, connected with oesophagus |
| Stomach |
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- If the learners have different flavours, they can compare the differences between their ingredients.
- Once the learners have finished the table, they can use the information gathered to develop a mind maptaking into consideration:
- How does the human body process potato chips? How does the metabolic process work?
- How does our body perceive flavour?
- They may search for an image about the digestive process of the nutrients and complete the mind mapwith the information about the digestion of nutrients.
- Once they complete the activity the learners can reflect about the information and formulate some open questions.
Examples
Presented in this section are examples of what the learners’ output might look like. However, note that this is not the only way to do it. The learning process may work more effectively if you let the learners use their creativity to present the information in their own way. You may use the resources listed below to see other examples and ideas on how to present the information.
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Brainstorm, definition of elements and interrelationships
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Mind Map for Nutrition from Potato Chips The following Mind maps are an example of possible answer to the questions: How does the human body process potato chips? How does the metabolic process work? |
Activity 2: How is a potato chip made?
Material
Potato chips package
Procedure
- The learners review the list of the ingredients of a type of potato chip. If the learners have different flavours, they can compare the differences between them.
- Create a mind mapto describe how all the ingredients are brought together to manufacture a potato chips package, they must consider aspects such as: Cultivation, Production (Potatoes and no more than two other ingredients), Transportation and Marketing.
- Search for an image depicting the production of potato chips.
- Complete the mind mapwith the information of the model of the potato chips production.
- Once they complete the activity the learners can reflect about the information and formulate some open questions.Example Mind Map of Production of Potato Chips
Further leading questions
- Does the model (Mind map) you developed really present the reality of how potato chips are produced?
- Does the model you developed really present the reality of how potato chips are digested by the body?
- Is the model suitable to understand a reality which may change in the next moment, or tomorrow or sometime in the future?
- If the reality is not static, should we look for models that can also depict the dynamic nature of reality?
Resources
- Digestion and Absorption of Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats https://microbenotes.com/digestion-and-absorption-of-carbohydrates-proteins-and-fats/
- Reactome https://reactome.org/PathwayBrowser/#/R-HSA-8963743&SEL=R-HSA-8963676
- Agriculture Value Chain Study Punjab, Pakistan https://www.rvo.nl/sites/default/files/2018/12/Voorlopig-rapport-landbouwwaardeketenstudie-Punjab-Pakistan.pdf
- CASI | Consumer Packaged Goods http://www.casicorp.com/cpg.html
- Cadena Productiva de la Papa https://prezi.com/gvfrnsdbj7_2/cadena-productiva-de-la-papa/
- How products are made | Salt http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Salt.html
- How salt is made https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-is-salt-made-1328618#:~:text=While%20the%20ocean%20is%20a,and%20evaporated%20to%20create%20salt.
- KMEC | Sunflower oil production http://www.oilmillmachinery.net/sunflower-oil-production.html
- How is sunflower oil produced (made)? The process of making sunflower oilhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7IH1ll0rqc
