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Freiburg heuristic competence model of systems thinking (four dimensions, each with four sub-capabilities)

Design · All designs
Evidence · no claims cited

Description

The article's framework for systems thinking builds on Riess and Mischo's definition of systems thinking as "the ability to recognize, describe and model (e.g., to structure, to organize) complex aspects of reality as systems". After revising an earlier three-dimensional model used by Bräutigam (2014), the authors developed a heuristic competence model with "four dimensions, each divided into four sub-capabilities", covering declarative/conceptual systems knowledge, modeling systems, procedural problem solving with system models, and evaluation of models. It structures both the CK conceptualisation and the intervention content.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Teachers need to know the heuristic competence model and the competencies essential for teaching systems thinking

Constraints

  • The model is described as heuristic; errors and insufficiencies of the earlier version were revised based on empirical study

Target Learners

  • student teachers of biology and geography
  • 6th-grade secondary pupils (target of systems thinking instruction)

Learning Goals

  • systems thinking
  • teaching about complex and dynamic ecosystems

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Rosenkränzer, F., Kramer, T., Hörsch, C., Schuler, S., & Rieß, W. (2016). Promoting Student Teachers' Content Related Knowledge in Teaching Systems Thinking: Measuring Effects of an Intervention through Evaluating a Videotaped Lesson. Higher Education Studies, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v6n4p156
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id freiburg-heuristic-competence-model-systems-thinking
title Freiburg heuristic competence model of systems thinking (four dimensions, each with four sub-capabilities)
description The article's framework for systems thinking builds on Riess and Mischo's definition of systems thinking as "the ability to recognize, describe and model (e.g., to structure, to organize) complex aspects of reality as...
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-03
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — rosenkränzer-2016

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