Teachers’ and educators’ perspectives on systems thinking and its implementation in Dutch biology education

Figures & data

Table 1. Three systems theories, their focus and key concepts. The original figure is with permission copied from Verhoeff et al. (2018).

Systems theory	Focus is on:	Key concepts
General Systems Theory (GST)	Hierarchical (nested) open systems	Identity, system boundary, level of organization, components, in- and output.
Cybernetics	Self-regulating closed networks	Feedback, self-regulation, equilibrium.
Dynamical Systems Theories (DST)	Complex self-organizing systems	Self-organization, emergence, nonlinearity, equilibrium states.

Table 2. Five important aspects of systems thinking according to the systems biologists involved in this study. Column 1 presents the five aspects that had been extracted from the bottom-up coding approach. Column 2 gives a description of each of the codes. Column 3 gives an example of a quote that was categorised to this aspect. Column 4 ‘systems theories’ represents the linkage of an aspect with one or more systems theories. The C stands for cybernetics.

Systems thinking aspects	Description	Example of a quote	Systems theories
			GST	C	DST
Identify the system	Biological phenomena can be seen as systems: they can be distinguished from their environment with a boundary and they consist of different interacting components.	SB5: ‘When you investigate a system you have to be able to identify the most important players. […] What are the most important players and what are the interactions between these players? So actually being able to define a system and the players involved in the system is an important point.’	x
Input and output	Biological systems are open systems; they interact with their environment. Matter, energy and/or information enter the system (input), then the system itself can be seen as a black box where all sorts of processes take place and after that, matter, energy and/or information comes out (output). Open systems are also self-regulating and dynamic. Most systems balance around a set point. With the aid of feedback mechanisms/control circuits, the system ensures that a deviating value is brought back to the set point. At the level of the cell and the organism, this process is called homeostasis.	SB3: ‘[…] and there is exchange across that boundary, because a sheep, for example, perceives things, there is heat exchange, it takes up nutrients, it excretes things, etcetera.’	x	x
Emergence	The components of a system work together to achieve a certain goal or function at a higher organizational level. This is called emergence. To be able to explain this phenomenon, you have to descend to the underlying levels or ascend from the parts to the top. This is also called yo-yo strategy or vertical coherence.	SB2: ‘[…] trying to understand the system based on the components and their interactions. Thus the properties of the components and their interactions. Therefore, it has a lot to do with emergent properties that cannot be seen in the individual components. It is when they start interacting that you suddenly see [a new] behaviour.’	x		x
Development	A system has a certain development, e.g. in terms of developmental biology (how does an individual develop during his life) or in terms of evolution.	SB4: ‘For example, the state of a system may depend on the history. You may takeo a certain route on the way there, but that you should do something different on the way back. It is not all the same.’			x
Modelling	A quantitative computational model or qualitative model in which a biological system is visualized or where predictions about the system can be made.	SB6: ‘The entire network is branched and it becomes too complex and therefore you need mathematical techniques, or at least modelling […]. You need a systematic method to write everything down and to indicate the interactions, because that is too complex for the human mind. So they [students] need mathematics in order to be able to model.’	x	x	x

Table 3. Overview of the results from the questionnaires, displaying the number of participants that indicated a specific aspect as important in the questionnaire as well as whether they apply the specific aspect regularly or more often in their teaching practice.

Systems thinking aspects	Indicated as important		Indicated as applied in teaching
	Teacher Educators	Teachers	Teacher Educators	Teachers
Identify the system	5/9	7/7	2/9	5/7
Input and output	8/9	7/7	3/9	6/7
Emergence	9/9	6/7	5/9	4/7
Development	8/9	4/7	4/9	3/7
Modelling	8/9	5/7	5/9	3/7

Verhoeff, R. P., M. C. P. J. Knippels, M. G. R. Gilissen, and K. T. Boersma. 2018. “The Theoretical Nature of Systems Thinking. Perspectives on Systems Thinking in Biology Education.” Frontiers in Education 3: 1–11. doi:10.3389/feduc.2018.00040.

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