Is complexity theory useful for teachers? I was asked this question in my PhD viva and I had to try to explain. I would love to hear other people's ideas about it. Many thanks!
It is possible the answer is an unequivocal "Yes". However complexity theory is an all embracing field. I will constrain myself to the teaching function in K-12 education.
In a sense complexity theory - as I understand it within the specified constraint - stems from the work of Jay Forrester in the 1960's and his work with system dynamics, though "wicked" problems had been spoken of much earlier. Jay spent the last decade of his life focusing on systems understanding for school children because he believed - as I do - that children find it easier to understand complexity and to think in systems than adults. Indeed, finding teachers to teach children about systems is one of the great challenges that we face. At the same time, in an increasingly complex world where we need to interact with diverse and varied groups of people to address the rich and complex problems they generate, an understanding of the complexity of systems is vital for the world to survive. This is in addition to the ecological challenges and other threats to human survival that reek of complexity.
To sum up the need for teaching complexity theory to school children at least in terms of systems thinking, I will conclude with a quotation from Yang & Damasio who state:
....one could argue that the chief purpose of education is to
cultivate children’s building of repertoires of cognitive and
behavioral strategies and options, helping them to recognize
the complexity of situations and to respond in increasingly
flexible, sophisticated, and creative ways. In our view, out of
these processes of recognizing and responding, the very proc-
esses that form the interface between cognition and emotion,
emerge the origins of creativity—the artistic, scientific, and
technological innovations that are unique to our species.
Further, out of these same kinds of processing emerges a spe-
cial kind of human innovation: the social creativity that we
call morality and ethical thought.
Finally, I would like to hear the answer you gave in your doctoral defence. It must have satisfied your elite audience so it should be good for the rest of us.
Please see my attached paper applying Complex Dynamic Systems to Computer Assisted Language Learning.
We conclude that there are MANY factors affecting language learning success that cannot be accounted for in instructional and research designs.
Article Environmental factors affecting Computer Assisted Language L...
In my humble opinion, Complexity Theory’s utility for teachers is dire, especially given the current age we live in. Senge, Ackoff, Scharmer, Linsky, Fullan, Lewin, Forrester, Zhao, and countless others (only for the sake of brevity, I curtailed this list) have accepted their callings as mavericks in the field to inform the masses of a very important change—a shift from the Industrial Age into a new age of information. As was mentioned by Singh in the prior thread, acclimation to this change can occur through an understanding of systems thinking. Systems thinking allows us to focus on events from a different perspective, from deep beneath the veneer as opposed to from the surface. In this way, we can become able to adapt and deal with change as it comes instead of avoiding change altogether (impossible feat).
I see Complexity Theory as a form of systems thinking in that it allows the practitioner to see situations, acknowledge their complexities, and look for new ways to arrive at solutions to the situations. In the English as a Second Language realm, Larsen-Freeman brilliantly applies Complexity Theory to the English language, recognizing that the language is a very complex entity. English’s complexity is what creates impasses in terms of ways to teach the language to non-natives. Actually, it is not the complexity of the language that is paramount, but the way we deal with this complexity. As teachers, we cannot change this complexity; however, we can come up with alternative ways to meet this complexity. Larsen-Freeman suggests alternative, non-linear ways to decipher English’s complex aspect so as to help students comprehend things easier. As such, I see Complexity Theory in English language pedagogy as the wave of the future in promoting true fluency among our students.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Linguistics
- Composition Studies
- Publication