Abstract for: An Interview Protocol for Assessing Students’ Understanding of Dynamically Complex Environmental Problems

Present study is on development of an interview protocol to assess students’ responses on specific, dynamically complex environmental problems. This protocol is designed as an assessment tool for an educational research aiming to teach “Human and Environment” chapter of standart science classes for seventh graders (12-13 year-olds) with systems approach. The research is designed as a quasi- experimental study that enables the researcher to test improvements in general systems thinking skills, competence in dynamic problem solving, and success in standard science achievement tests. Systems literature lacks assessment tools for systems thinking skills in various contexts targeting different age groups. With its original problem context and its specific target age group, proposed protocol will be a contribution to the literature in systems thinking and education. This article includes preliminary results from eight student interviews. Keywords: Systems based education, systems thinking skills, dynamic environmental problems, interview protocol.