MEREDY BENSON RICE*
If you do not know yourself, your unconscious as well as your conscious states, all your inquiry will be twisted, given a bias. You will have no foundation for thinking which is rational, clear, logical, sane. Your thinking will be according to a certain pattern, formula, or set of ideas —but that is not really thinking. To think clearly, logically,without becoming neurotic, without being caught in any form of illusion, you have to know this whole process of your own consciousness.
—J Krishnamurti
7th Public Talk in Saanen, 1963
What is visible thinking?
The central idea of visible thinking is simple: making thinking visible. The vast majority of what we think is hidden. It stays in our heads, and we only articulate a small portion of it, a portion that even we, sometimes, are unclear about. By getting that thinking out of our brains in a way that it is ‘made visible’, we can make connections between and among those thoughts; thereby leading us to question our thinking, understand it more deeply, and when done together with others, see links between our own thought processes and that of others.
There are many visible thinking tools teachers can use in the classroom including:
Think-Pair-Share: where students think about a question or topic individually, then pair up to discuss their thoughts with a partner and finally share their insights with the class.
See-Think-Wonder: where students look at an image or object, describe what they see, express what they think about it, and articulate what it makes them wonder.
Claim-Support-Question: where students make a claim about a topic, support it with evidence, and pose questions related to it.
Circle of Viewpoints: where students consider a topic or issue from multiple perspectives, discussing how different viewpoints might see and interpret it.
Think-Alouds: where teachers model their thinking process by verbalizing their thoughts while reading a text or solving a problem, encouraging students to do the same.
These are just a handful of visible thinking routines that teachers can use and if the reader of this is interested in more, I highly recommend going to Project Zero (based at Harvard).1
Systems thinking: A visible thinking lens for educators
Systems thinking, while relevant to many different fields, comes under the umbrella of visible thinking as it pertains to education. I was first exposed to systems thinking through my interest in David Bohm (1917–92), mostly known in the science world for his work in quantum theory and his concept of wholeness and the implicate order in physics. He argued that our human tendency to see the world in a fragmentary way led to a limitation in our understanding of the ‘whole’ and has thereby contributed to many of the problems we face as humans living on planet Earth. His perspective resonated for me with Krishnamurti’s teachings on the dangers of fragmentary thinking. Like Krishnamurti’s attention to the need for a holistic perception to address human problems, Bohm also perceived reality as an unbroken whole, where everything is interconnected. Bohm and Krishnamurti had many conversations about these ideas through their long years of friendship and in no small way inspired an interest in me, as an educator, to explore how systems thinking might help children appreciate the interconnectedness of all things.
Much to my delight in 2012, I was lucky to be present at an educational conference where Derek Cabrera, a professor at Cornell University, launched a small book entitled Thinking at Every Desk, in which he focused on systems thinking, as it might be used in education to develop students’ critical thinking skills. Since then, systems thinking has become a well-recognized tool in many educational settings and I believe it is an important one for schools such as ours.
As Krishnamurti suggests, can we: ‘Learn to look at the whole of life from a level which is comprehensive, which has no fragmentation at all?’. And as Joseph Campbell observed: ‘People who don’t have a concept of the whole, can do very unfortunate things…’
Central to an understanding of systems thinking as it pertains to the classroom, is a focus on understanding the relationships between different aspects of a system and recognizing how everything within a system is connected (and is usually part of even larger systems). Unlike linear thinking, which looks at cause-and-effect relationships in isolation, systems thinking opens the door to understanding how a system’s dynamics, interactions, and feedback loops impact the system as a whole. In simple terms, students can be introduced to the core principles of systems thinking as:
- Systems are everywhere.
- Systems are connected to other systems.
- Systems are visible and invisible.
- Systems have parts that work together.
- Systems change, evolve, and adapt.
- Systems have a cycle and patterns.
- Systems need energy to work.
- Systems can be damaged or broken but also repaired and fixed.
- Systems are part of a whole.
Systems thinking maps
Systems thinking maps are the visual representations used in the classroom to illustrate how different elements of a system interact and influence each other. It helps teachers and students see the bigger picture by showing relationships, feedback loops, and cause-and-effect connections within a complex topic or problem. These maps can range from simple diagrams to more detailed illustrations, depending on the complexity of the system being studied. The maps are created together by the teacher and students, drawing out what is known, and sometimes what is not known about a system. This strategy is a wonderful way to visually display the collective thinking of the class and is valuable in fostering critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and a deeper understanding of how various components work together within systems—such as ecosystems, social structures, or even classroom dynamics.
Getting started
First of all, we could recognize that young children are amazing systems thinkers! They have a natural tendency to see the interconnectedness around them. A good way to start is with simpler systems that students are already fairly familiar with such as the water cycle, a local ecosystem, or the classroom community. Once you, as the teacher, become comfortable capturing student thinking in the form of a systems thinking map, there are a myriad of ways this routine can be incorporated into the classroom. Here are a few examples:
Science: Use systems thinking to explore ecosystems, the human body, and climate systems. What influence do our human actions have on these systems?
Mathematics: Apply systems thinking to understand patterns, relationships, and functions. Analyze population growth or financial systems.
Social Studies: Investigate historical events, economic systems, and cultural interactions through a systems thinking lens. For example, exploring the causes and effects of the Great Depression can reveal complex interdependencies.
Language Arts: Analyze literature by examining characters, plots, and settings as parts of a larger system. Discuss how different elements influence the story’s outcome.
Social Justice: Explore a social justice issue such as racism or poverty in order to determine where parts of the system are unfair or broken and ways in which reparation might take place.
Art and Music: Explore the systems within artistic creations, such as the interplay of elements in a painting or the structure of a musical composition.
A call to action
Systems thinking can help young people situate things within systems and recognize the various people who participate—either directly or indirectly— within a particular system. Students also notice that a change in one aspect of the system may have both intended and unintended effects on another aspect of the system.
When considering human interaction within systems, it can often lead to concrete action targeted towards repairing what is seen as a break in an existing system. For example, our third-grade class began with a systems thinking map on ‘ability’, including those assumptions made in our society about being able bodied. After exploring their thoughts on this system, the students decided to map the Oak Grove campus to see how a person in a wheelchair could navigate the campus. Suggestions for improvement to accessibility were then made to our campus planning committee.
Our first graders created a systems thinking map at the beginning of their exploration of the pond that is at the edge of the Oak Grove property. As the unit of study progressed, more and more components were added to the map, as students’ knowledge of the pond system expanded. This inevitably led to exploring ways that the pond can be both negatively impacted (pollution, drought, trash, invasive plants, etc.) and positively impacted (conservation of water, picking up trash, educating the public) and what action the children might take to ensure the health of the system.
Why teach using the systems thinking lens?
Systems thinking is by nature differentiated and enhances all students’ ability to think deeply, creatively, and critically. It fosters deep learning that goes beyond right answers and instead helps students tap into their ability to observe, ask questions and make connections. When students have a better understanding of the connections, relationships, and perspective of systems around them, they are better able to identify when systems are unbalanced, unfair, or broken. This can lead to positive social action which is immensely empowering for students.
Ultimately, systems thinking is a valuable tool for making student thinking visible, which in turn helps students to examine their own thinking as well as extend their thinking. It encourages students to view the world as interconnected; thereby, promoting a sense of care for the whole.
Want to learn more?
This piece is intended as a brief introduction for teachers. If you are interested in pursuing this further, here are some resources:
- Project Zero (based at Harvard): https://pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines
- Systems Thinking Schools (primarily focused on elementary education): https://systemsthinkingschools.org/
- Wildwood School Outreach Center (offer professional development): https://www.wildwood.org/outreach
- Thinking at Every Desk: Four Simple Skills to Transform Your Classroom, Derek Cabrera and Laura Colosi. WW Norton & Company, 2012
- Making Thinking: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding and Independence For All Learners by Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church, et al, Jossey-Bass, 2011