%A Curwen,Margaret Sauceda %A Ardell,Amy %A MacGillivray,Laurie %A Lambert,Rachel %D 2018 %J Frontiers in Education %C %F %G English %K systems thinking,Critical Thinking,critical pedagogy,elementary school children,Contructivism,primary grades,literacy,ecoliteracy %Q %R 10.3389/feduc.2018.00090 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2018-November-09 %9 Empirical Study %# %! SYSTEMS THINKING TO ADDRESS DROUGHT %* %< %T Systems Thinking in a Second Grade Curriculum: Students Engaged to Address a Statewide Drought %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2018.00090 %V 3 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 2504-284X %X Faced with issues, such as drought and climate change, educators around the world acknowledge the need for developing students' ability to solve problems within and across contexts. A systems thinking pedagogy, which recognizes interdependence and interconnected relationships among concrete elements and abstract concepts (Meadows, 2008; Senge et al., 2012), has potential to transform the classroom into a space of observing, theorizing, discovering, and analyzing, thus linking academic learning to the real world. In a qualitative case study in one school located in a major metropolitan area in California, USA teachers and their 7- and 8-year-old students used systems thinking in an interdisciplinary project-based curriculum. Through reflection and investigations, students devised solutions and used innovative approaches to publicly engage peers and family members in taking action to address an environmental crisis.