Systems Thinking

I'm taking a class right now and we have to think about how things are designed - the systems and places we live with every day. So I thought that we'd try to look at the open space (aka the playgrounds) and think about how it was designed and the thinking behind those decisions.  As part of getting in a systems mindset, we read the book Who Put the Cookies in the Cookie Jar? by George Shannon.

If you don't know this book, it is a great concrete starting point for systems thinking (among other things!). The book goes through the many people who need to have a part in making a cookie from the person who makes the cookies trays and oven mitts, to the farmers who raise the chickens and collect the eggs, to the bakers who put all the ingredients together.

After we read the book, the children were asked to map out all the people are responsible for helping to make a cookie. Some of their responses are below.

These first two students saw the process as a whole, and wanted to represent that by connecting all the parts together in their drawings. 

This student went through the whole book step by step.

In this one, the student made symbols for the different jobs and included the symbols next to each person.

The people enjoying the cookies were the first thing on this student's mind!

I am hopeful that our thinking about making cookies will allow students the opportunity to be sensitive to the times when it would be important to think about all the parts of a process. Our next adventure will be a Design Hunt (thanks Agency by Design!)  about our school campus!