Abstract for: Creating Assessment Questions for Systems Thinking Concepts

In this paper we undertake an effort to increase the collection of systems thinking assessment questions available to educators and researchers focused on the pre-college and undergraduate level of instruction. The first part of the paper lists a hierarchical set of systems thinking concepts that lend themselves to assessment by questions, followed by some examples of systems thinking assessment questions at each level. The second part of the paper presents some guidelines for developing concept inventories. It is the hope that systems thinking inventories at the primary school, middle school, and secondary school level will be developed in an effort to support the infusion of more systems thinking concepts in education for students ages 5 to 22. It is the intention to make the list of systems thinking assessment questions freely available through the Creative Learning Exchange. The research and analysis needed to develop systems thinking concept inventories is a second stage for this effort.