Systems Thinking Research
For over a decade, members of our team have been leading research to better theorize and operationalize the processes of metacognitive systems thinking and to advance work that scaffolds the teaching and assessment of such complex competencies. Today, we operate in a world of increasing scientific, social, cultural, political, and ethical complexity, and systems thinking is often lauded as an answer to help navigate such complexities in both large scale wicked problems or grand challenges as well as everyday professional situations.
One strand of our work advanced an interdisciplinary and metacognitive focused approach to teaching and assessing systems thinking through an open-ended scenario (Abeesee Scenario) anchored in literature constructs (Dimensions of Systems Thinking Framework - below) which has been used in a variety of settings for research and teaching.
This work has grown into other opportunities to assess systems thinking in formal and informal settings such as in the Stemmler Award collaboration Operationalizing, Validating, and Scaling Health Systems Citizenship Assessment in Undergraduate Medical Education which led to the development of an Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) to assess systems thinking in clinical encounters.
Highlighted Impacts and Outcomes
Use of the Abeesee instrument and derivatives in a wide variety of education settings (e.g., Virginia Tech’s Global STEM Practice: Leadership and Culture course, Purdue University’s Humanities Informed Engineering Projects course, summer camps with Roanoke youth learning about issues of extreme heat)
The OSCE instrument we developed is actively used as part of the assessment process for all 3rd and 4th year medical students at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Invited presentations such as the 2023 T.W. Bennett Symposium at the University of Southern Mississippi and the 2025 Bridging Disciplines: Research and Colloquium and Roundtable on Interdisciplinary Education at Purdue University.
Online tool for using the Abeesee Scenario – static version openly accessible in the journal article below or online tool is provided here (forthcoming)
Grohs, J.R., Kirk, G.R., Soledad, M.M., & Knight, D.B (2018). Assessing Systems Thinking: A tool to measure complex reasoning through ill-structured problems. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 28, 110-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2018.03.003
Amelink, C., Grote, D., *Norris, M., & Grohs, J.R. (2024). Transdisciplinary Learning Opportunities: Exploring Differences in Complex Thinking Skill Development Between STEM and Non-STEM Majors. Innovative Higher Education, 49(1), 153-176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-023-09682-5
Davis, K., Knight, D., Grohs, J., Grote, D., Mahmoudi, H., Perry, L., Triantis, K., Ghaffarzadegan, N., & Hosseinichimeh, N (2023). Comparing self-report instruments and scenario-based assessments of systems thinking competence. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 32(6), 793-813. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-023-10027-2
Davis, K., Ghaffarzadegan, N., Grohs, J., Grote, D., Hosseinichimeh, N., Knight, D., Mahmoudi, H., & Triantis, K. (2020). The Lake Urmia vignette: A tool to assess understanding of complexity in socio-environmental systems. System Dynamics Review, 36(2), 191–222. https://doi.org/10.1002/sdr.1659
In the news
Funding Sources
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. EEC-1824594. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the National Science Foundation.
Cognitive Barriers to Understanding Complexity in Human-Technical Systems: Evidence from Engineering Students and Practitioners $403,178 (2018-2023)
This material is based upon work supported by the National Board of Medical Examiners Stemmler Fund. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the National Board of Medical Examiners.
Operationalizing, Validating, and Scaling Health Systems Citizenship Assessment in Undergraduate Medical Education $150,000 (2023-2025)
Research Collaborators
CENI Faculty: Jake Grohs, Gary Kirk
VT Collaborators: David Knight, Andrew Katz
VTCSOM Collaborators: Sarah Parker, Brock Mutcheson, Jed Gonzalo, Natalie Karp, Heidi Lane, David Musick
External Collaborators: Malle Schilling, Arizona State University; Kirsten Davis, Purdue University