Experienced Tertiary Instructors’ Perceptions of the Benefits and Challenges of Systems Thinking in Chemistry Education

Abstract

Research from other STEM disciplines suggests that a systems thinking approach can motivate students to learn content meaningfully and in a way that empowers them to use their knowledge to benefit the world around them. However, systems thinking is not currently widespread in chemistry education. As instructors’ beliefs influence their classroom practices, professional development supporting the implementation of a systems thinking approach must explicitly address instructors’ perceptions of that approach. In the current study, we interviewed 17 tertiary chemistry instructors who have experience using systems thinking in various chemistry courses in North America and Europe. According to the Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth, the instructors’ enactment of a systems thinking approach and their subsequent reflections on its outcomes allow them to provide unique insights into the affordances and constraints of a systems thinking approach. Study participants provided rich descriptions of how a systems thinking approach can benefit and challenge both students’ learning and instructors’ teaching in tertiary chemistry classrooms. Future professional development efforts could use each of these benefits and challenges to motivate potential adopters to implement a systems thinking approach and prepare them to address the challenges they or their students might encounter in using the approach.

Presenting Biochemistry Topics through a Systems Thinking Approach

“…The development of systems thinking skills has been recently encouraged in chemistry as a result of the special edition of Reimagining Chemistry Education initiated by the Journal of Chemical Education. , The aim of this special issue was to offer educators a framework for systems thinking and provide successful examples of incorporating a systems thinking approach in chemistry classrooms and laboratories with implications for teaching. Several studies that explored instructors’ beliefs and perceptions regarding the implementation of systems thinking in chemistry courses described the benefits and the challenges the faculty identified in this type of approach. − Based on the insights of the faculty participants, some of the advantages of incorporating systems thinking in teaching could be that a systems thinking approach may help students connect chemistry to real-word systems, help students to see complexity, and motivate students to be action-taking stakeholders. − Challenges and barriers of implementing systems thinking in the chemistry curricula pertain to faculty knowledge and skills regarding systems thinking and implementation in the classroom as well as the lack of space or time in the curricula to add this approach. − Furthermore, one of the main perceived barriers in the implementation of the systems thinking approach is the lack of systems thinking instructional materials …”