User:Vtaylor/Active learning/Systems thinking

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STORY: Remember Pac-Man? The space ghosts were named Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. They were red, pink, orange, and cyan. You may have spent hours in arcades playing Pac-Man during your teenaged years, but do you know the ghosts’ names? You can’t win at Pac-Man by remembering facts; you win a game by being able to assess phenomena, recognize systems, interpret possibilities, and iterate solutions.
...The ghosts’ names are decontextualized facts. Playing the game involves systems literacy.


  • systems / system thinking - fundamental in science, engineering, math, technologies - active learning - recognizing, observing, interaction, alteration - control

System thinking - the player is tasked with learning a combination of actions and responses. The game does one thing. The player responds with another. In order to beat the game, the player needs to master the system.

  • more generally, system thinking - cause and effect
  • systems - whole area of study in engineering, usually associated with control systems
  • systems in nature - ecosystem, weather system
  • active learning - observation, interaction