Systems thinking is a more effective approach to teaching content than traditional hierarchical lists of topics. Systems are integrated and interdependent aggregates that share a common purpose and can be modeled using tools like semantic networks, systems modeling software, and spreadsheets. These cognitive technologies allow students to construct dynamic models of systems and test how changes to different components interact, leading to a deeper understanding of complex real-world phenomena.

1. Team Member: Zhou Cao Yuan Wang

2. 2 reasons Acquiring content is philosophically impossible in a constructivist perspective. Content as defined by curricula is almost invariably organized in hierarchical lists of topics. Why CONTENT learning is problematic?

3. Educators can organize concepts around how they naturally cohere in the world – in SYSTEMS . Systems are integrated and interdependent aggregates of components that share a common purpose.

5. i Semantic networks, also known as concept maps, are spatial rep re sentations of concepts and their interrelationships that simulate the knowledge structures that humans store in their minds(Jonassen, Beissner, & Yacci, 1993).

6. System modeling tools enable learners to construct dynamic systems models by describing the quantitative relationships among the components, then testing them by running the models.

7. A spreadsheet is a grid (or table or matrix) of empty cells, with columns identified by letters and rows identified by numbers—a ledger sheet spread in front of the user. Spreadsheets are computerized, numeric record-keeping systems. Spreadsheet are also effective for illustrating dynamic interaction among system components. Spreadsheets are an example of a cognitive technology that amplifies and reorganizes mental functioning.

9. Traditional approaches to teaching content result in inert and useless knowledge in students because (1) knowledge cannot be conveyed and (2) content is conveyed to students in ways that are inconsistent with the ways that they naturally tend to think. Expert systems, spreadsheets, and systems modeling tools are the most effective for modeling systems because they can be tested. Concept maps can represent system components and provide semantic descriptions of interrelationships among the components. Getting students to understand the complexities among phenomena in the world and how the phenomena affect each other would represent a major accomplishment for any teacher or professor.