Abstract for: From Models to Mindsets: Building a Systems Thinking Curriculum for 21st Century Problem Solving

In the 21st century, society faces increasingly complex, “wicked” problems that resist simple, discipline-bound solutions. Addressing these challenges requires professionals who can think in systems—integrating knowledge across domains while navigating feedbacks, tradeoffs, uncertainty, and competing stakeholder perspectives. From climate adaptation to global pandemics to supply chain disruption, today’s problems demand a workforce equipped with these capabilities. This need motivated the redesign of the undergraduate Integrated Science and Technology (ISAT) program at James Madison University. The program combines broad training in science and technology with focused study in key sectors such as manufacturing, biotechnology, energy, applied computing, and environmental sustainability. System dynamics serves as a unifying lens, implemented through a scaffolded “spine” of courses that centers on holistic problem solving. The goal is not to produce system modelers, but to develop systems thinkers who permeate their fields with a mindset that drives innovation. Developing and sustaining this approach required institutional support, intentional curriculum design, and deep faculty engagement. Through collaborative design processes, co-teaching, and faculty learning communities, instructors from diverse disciplines came to embrace system dynamics as a shared intellectual framework rather than a specialized discipline. In this plenary, we share the design principles, institutional structures, and implementation strategies that supported this transformation, along with evidence of impacts on teaching and student learning. We invite the system dynamics community to join us in advancing systems thinking not only as a modeling practice, but as a foundational mindset for 21st century problem solving.