Publication Date
4-9-2021
Publisher
Social System Design Lab, Washington University in St. Louis
Abstract
The iceberg is a classic metaphor that is applied to many disciplines beyond systems thinking. The metaphor describes a situation in which what you see (the tip of the iceberg) is only a small portion of what you can’t see (a large, hidden mass of ice below the surface). In systems thinking, we use the iceberg metaphor to think about what is “under the surface” driving the individual events that we see: (1) Patterns of events over time, (2) System Structure that give rise to these patterns and, (3) Beliefs, Mindsets and Goals that inform the design of system structures.
This purpose of this brief is to unpack the Systems Thinking Iceberg as a way to organize reflection and dialogue about systemic challenges in education.
Series Number
Methods Brief Series 1.01: Systems Thinking Foundations
Document Type
Research Brief
Rights
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Evbuoma, E.I., Hu, M., Farrell, A., Liem, W., & Ballard, E. (2021). Systems Thinking Iceberg: Diving Beneath the Surface in Education Systems. Methods Brief Series 1.01: Systems Thinking Foundations. Social System Design Lab: St. Louis, MO. https://doi.org/10.7936/g9eh-8176
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