Sunny Island. An interactive learning environment to promote systems thinking education for primary school students

Abstract

To make the process of learning easier for students, schoolteachers are increasingly using Interactive Learning Environments (ILEs) in classrooms. The paper presents a system dynamics-based ILE called Sunny Island. The ILE has been designed to promote Systems Thinking (ST) education for primary school students. Through a funny fantasy tale - described in detail in a book that accompanies the ILE - students have the opportunity to discover and become familiar with the basic principles of ST, such as feedback, positive and negative causal influences, limits to growth, short and long term effects, counterintuitive behaviors, causes of policy resistances and dynamic complexity. The proposed ILE has been designed through Powersim Studio 10, a simulation software that has been used to model the social phenomena described in the tale. A pilot project has been designed to test the effectiveness of the Sunny Island ILE. Six Italian primary schools have been involved in a pilot project, which is also supervised by a Regional Education Office, a public body that represents the Ministry of Education at a local level. The very first results show a positive impact of the Sunny Island ILE on ST education.