Imagine your typical day and think about the systems you encounter:
the systems that produce and distribute the food you eat;
the transportation systems that enable you to drive, walk, or bike to school or work;
the legal systems that guide your behavior and that of others;
and the many systems that make your school or workplace function.
Once you start thinking about systems you see them everywhere.
Thinking in systems and learning to map them are core skills for anyone who wants to understand how the world really works, and they are invaluable if you wish to solve just about any problem facing society.
Unfortunately, policymakers and social entrepreneurs often intervene in systems without considering the complex causes of the problems they seek to solve, or the far-reaching consequences of even small changes.
Watch the video to begin learning about the relationships that make up systems, how systems behave, and how systems thinking can help you design interventions that lead to positive changes while avoiding unintended adverse consequences.
What will you gain from this resource?
This resource will help you see the world and think in systems.
It will improve how you:
Understand systems through the causal relationships that compose them
Describe and explain systems through maps and written narratives
Identify both the intended and unintended effects of interventions
Evaluate options to intervene in systems to change the way they function
How this resource is organized
You’ll learn to be a systems thinker by exploring different social systems in which humans play a major role.
The modules introduce you to the fundamentals of systems thinking through a series of case studies:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
How to use this resource
You can navigate through the modules using the menu on the left side of the page. The downloadable workbook offers guided activities to apply what you learn.
As you move forward, you may find it useful to return to an earlier module. That’s a common part of this process. You can revisit a module at any time to review key concepts of systems and systems mapping.
