Mehrafza Mirzazad
Mehrafza Mirzazad
Systems Thinking Workshops
For increasing knowledge and empowering K-12 children with systems thinking...
Issues
Anti-Linearity
System Thinking
Education
Sustainability
Theory of Change
Theory of Empathy
Design Director
Design Researcher
Teaching Assistant
Services
Workshop
E-book
Educational Toolkits
Editor
“Children are the research and development division of the human species.”
Alison Gopnik
SYSTEM THINKING IN
HEART BRAIN KID
PROGRAM
Heart Brain Kid presents a new model for system thinking development for children of all ages. It is a series of innovative and fun toolkits that allows parents, grandparents, teachers, and grown-up kids to introduce system thinking to kids.
We collaborate with educators, scientists, medical doctors, social scientists, and designers to encourage system thinking, to nurture empathy, and to disrupt linear thinking.
Teaching children to adopt systems thinking and to embrace empathy is an investment that has lifelong benefits. It helps kids to understand social networks, the connectivity of the world, the interconnectivity and complexity of problems, and how we can pursue solutions on a wide scale. This approach also helps kids to understand the reasons behind changes and prepares them to be ready for changes.
We all live in a very complex system but (for the past several hundred years) the human-made linear system has grown to dominate our daily lives, including everything from our educational institutions to our grocery shopping and media. This linearity is limiting. Instead of seeing and understanding the whole and its interconnections, we just see the parts which are highlighted by the linear system.
THE WORLD IS MADE UP OF SYSTEMS
A system is a group of connected elements in its own environment.
A system addresses a function which is connected to a bigger system.
If you remove any of these elements or change its dynamic, the system is disrupted.
WHAT IS A SYSTEM?
This is a system.
It is made of multiple elements to perform a complete function. If we remove or change one of the elements,
we alter the functioning of the whole system.
This is a heap.
There is no relationship between the various elements and they collectively do not perform any function.
Adding a new element or removing an existing one does not create any significant change.
THERE ARE 3 TYPES OF SYSTEMS IN THE WORLD
Natural systems
These systems evolve over time and change their purposes, either temporarily or permanently. The natural systems' purposes and connections are complex. These include, for example, water systems, soil systems, and the human body.
Human-made systems
These systems are artificial and have clear purposes. Some examples of human-made systems include a washing machine, an aeroplane, or a saxophone.
Social systems
These systems comprise the most complex class of systems. Social systems are generated between two or more people which interact in an environment. Their purposes may include the creation of a family system, a marriage system, a friendship, or a neighborhood system.
ALL OF THE SYSTEMS ARE INTERCONNECTED
SYSTEM THINKING IS UNDERSTANDING THE
BIGGER PICTURE BY
SEEING THE ELEMENTS, EVALUATING THEIR INTERACTIONS
WITH ONE ANOTHER,
AND APPRECIATING THE
CAUSES AND EFFECTS
OF THESE DYNAMICS.
Adopting system thinking in education systems and daily life helps children to develop holistic and creative mindsets for examining and solving complex problems. System thinking encourages children to see problems from many different perspectives, to understand the meaning of their experiences in relation to the world around them, and pushes them to take risks and work to create positive change.
How does a Systems Thinker Think?
Playful
Holistic
Empathic
Understand
the structure
Understand
cause and effect
Questioning
SYSTEM
THINKING
DESIGN
Understanding
Adopting
Creating
Our System thinking design program is designed to activate your child's brain around the three-part process of Understanding, Adopting, and Creating.
Understanding
It is important to explore and understand all of the elements and their connections. This phase is all about curiosity and focuses on deconstructing the system and deeply exploring the dynamics and structures of the system.
Adopting
Adopting a system thinking mindset is the base of this phase. This step focuses on shifting the perspective and seeing the system through a different lens.
Creating
This phase focuses on reconstructing the system, creating ideas and making prototypes to amplify positive changes. Test the prototype, share it, and get feedback.
“Change the experience, and you change the brain.”
Eric Jensen
Let's fly over our steps
01
Introduction
We start the system thinking design process by describing systems and examining what kind of systems exist in the world.
SYSTEM
THINKING
DESIGN
Understanding,
Adopting, and
Creating
02
This three-step methodology focuses on developing a deep set of new knowledge and tools for children. The goals are to help them to understand complex problems and to adopt critical thinking approaches which activate their brains. These skills will allow children to learn how to make meaningful changes in the world they are live in.
03
Making a Change
This session dives deeper into the question "what is change?" In this step, we explore how changes are made.
