Social System Design Lab Methods Briefs are short, digestible notes on applications of system dynamics and systems thinking in community settings. They are meant to capture and share out our current thinking on core ideas.
1.01 Systems Thinking Iceberg: Diving Beneath the Surface in Education Systems
This purpose of this brief is to unpack the Systems Thinking Iceberg as a way to organize reflection and dialogue about systemic challenges in education.
1.02 Characteristics of Complex Problems
The purpose of this brief is to share (some) characteristics of complex problems, and introduce system dynamics as a set of tools for managing this complexity.
1.03 Mental Models
The purpose of this brief is to introduce the concept of mental models, and to discuss how system dynamics tools can be used to elicit, negotiate, and transform them.
1.04 Framing Dynamic Problems
The purpose of this brief is to help the reader recognize problems as dynamic or changing over time, and to present this thinking using graphical tools such as reference modes.
1.05 Understanding Systems from a Feedback Perspective
The purpose of this brief is to introduce the concept of feedback thinking through the lens of challenges in K-12 education, and present Causal Loop Diagrams as tools to describe feedback relationships between components of a system
1.06 Accumulations
The purpose of this brief is to describe how the concept of accumulation can help us understand system behavior and to introduce how stock and flow diagrams can be used to help us model problems and find solutions in K-12 education.
1.07 System Archetypes
The purpose of this brief is to describe how education stakeholders can use system archetypes as a tool for recognizing, anticipating, and addressing the system dynamics driving the common patterns of problems in their school communities.
1.08 Iceberg del Pensamiento Sistémico: Buceando Bajo la Superficie
El propósito de este breve documento es explicar el iceberg del pensamiento sistémico como una forma deorganizar la reflexión y el diálogo sobre los desafíos sistémicos en los sistemas alimentarios en relación conla salud.
1.09 Definición de la Dinámica de Problemas
El propósito de este breve documento es ayudar al lector a reconocer los problemas como dinámicos o cambiantes a lo largo del tiempo, y aplicar este pensamiento utilizando herramientas gráficas como los modos de referencia
1.10 Modelos Mentales
El propósito de este breve documento es introducir el concepto de modelos mentales y discutir cómo las herramientas de dinámica de sistemas se pueden usar para identificarlos, negociarlos y transformarlos.
1.11 Acumulaciones y Diagramas de Niveles y Flujos
El propósito de este breve documento es describir el concepto de las acumulaciones y su utilidad para ayudarnos a comprender el comportamiento del sistema, y mostrarnos la forma en que los diagramas de niveles y flujos pueden ser utilizados para ayudarnos a modelar problemas y encontrar soluciones en el sistema alimentario y de salud.
2.01 Online GMB: Challenges, Opportunities, and Barriers
The purpose of this brief is to provide some general points of comparison between in-person and online group model building and introduce challenges and opportunities that practitioners in the SSDL have faced when translating workshops to online spaces.
2.02 An Overview of Platforms to Support Online GMB
The purpose of this brief is to review a number of online platforms that group model building practitioners have used since the rise of remote work, and to suggest promising combinations for groups who are hoping to implement their own online system dynamics work.
2.03 Facilitation Team Roles in Online GMB
The purpose of this brief is to compare facilitation team roles in traditional, in-person GMB sessions with those in online GMB sessions, shedding particular light on how the realities of online platforms shift what tools facilitators have at their disposal when engaging a group of participants.