Improving Learning about Systems Requires Designing for Change in Educational Systems Bill Penuel University of Colorado Boulder Remarks prepared for Waterbury Summit August 2013

Systems

Student Difficulties with Understanding Complex Systems Confusion about levels of description that can be used to characterize a system with lots of interacting parts (Hmelo-Silver, Marathe, & Liu, 2007; Wilensky & Resnick, 1999). Use different approaches to solving problems from experts in complex systems, who develop explanations for system control as emerging from patterns of local interaction (Jacobson & Wilensky, 2006).

Our Difficulties with Understanding Educational Systems We see the aggregate behavior of schools and districts as collections of what happens in classrooms (or professional development), or as bureaucratically controlled entities from above. We approach the problem of changing teaching practice as if classrooms were (or should be) isolated from their larger systems.

Design-Based Implementation Research A model for relating research to practice that – Emphasizes collaborative diagnosis of problems and design – Focuses design on systems and infrastructures for improvement – Is informed by and contributes to theory and research evidence

A Family of Approaches …for relating research to practice …for developing evidence related to innovations …for bringing innovations to scale “designing for improvement at scale” “improvement science” “problem-solving research, development, and implementation”

The Four Principles of DBIR Teams form around a focus on persistent problems of practice from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives. To improve practice, teams commit to iterative, collaborative design. As a strategy for promoting quality in the research and development process, teams develop theory related to both classroom learning and implementation through systematic inquiry. Design-based implementation research is concerned with developing capacity for sustaining change in systems.

A Reminder from Engineering “complex engineering systems do not exist inside a bubble independent of the people who design, build and use them, nor are engineering systems free from societal and political influences.” Litzinger, p. 4

Framing Our Challenge “This sizeable challenge of integrating assessment and instruction within the learning cycle requires teachers to adopt a vision of the classroom that gives primacy to student expression and interactions rather than to teacher moves; to envision each learning activity as an assessment opportunity that in turn informs a subsequent learning experience.” Minstrell, p. 2