Rising sea levels, extreme weather events such as droughts, heat waves or increasing precipitation elsewhere are consequences of climate change which has a dramatic impact on earth and its ecosystems. In order to make and guide adequate decisions for sustainable actions, students need the ability to understand complex earth systems. Systems thinking describes the ability to deal with complex systems so that students are able to identify system structures, analyze system behavior and prospectively model system target states. (Mambrey, Timm, et al., 2020; Mehren et al., 2018).

With regard to sustainable development and climate change, in biology education the focus of research and instruction lays on dealing with the development of ecosystems (Kultusministerkonferenz, 2004). Previous research reveals that it is insufficient to investigate the understanding of ecosystems solely from a systems thinking perspective. It appears that various factors like individual knowledge (Sweeny & Sterman, 2007), subject-specific conceptions (Hokayem & Gotwals 2016), and the understanding of representations (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 2019; Griffiths & Grant, 1985; Schollum, 1983) have significant impact on stundets understanding of complex ecosystems. The aim of this research project is to identify which factors exactly influence systems thinking in ecological systems and how these factors interact.

Results so far show that students systems thinking is guided by subject-specific and interdisciplinary patterns (Mambrey, Timm, et al., 2020). Results from qualitative and quantitative research projects show that there do exist skills of sytsems thinking that reveal to be relevant beyond contexts (Mambrey, Schreiber, & Schmiemann, 2020; Mambrey, Timm, et al., 2020). In contrast, the individual progression within these skills depends heavily on system-specific factors like the type of relation in ecosystems (Mambrey, Timm, et al., 2020). In order to promote systems thinking in educational institutions and to design effective learning material, it is important to distinguish between system-specific and interdisciplinary factors that influence systems thinking.

Mambrey, S., Schreiber, N., & Schmiemann, P. (2020). Young students’ reasoning about ecosystems: The role of systems thinking, knowledge, conceptions, and representation. Research in Science Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-020-09917-x

Mambrey, S., Timm, J., Landskron, J. J., & Schmiemann, P. (2020). The impact of system specifics on systems thinking. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 57(10), 1632–1651. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21649

Mambrey, S., Wellmanns, A., Timm, J., & Schmiemann, P. (2022). Systems Thinking in Ecological and Physiological Systems and the Role of Representations. In O. Ben Zvi Assaraf & M.-C. P. J. Knippels (Eds.), Fostering Understanding of Complex Systems in Biology Education (pp. 105–121). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98144-0_6

American Association for the Advancement of Science. (2019). AAAS Project 2061 science assessment website: Topic: Interdependence in Ecosystems. http://assessment.aaas.org/topics/RH#/

Griffiths, A. K., & Grant, B. A. (1985). High school students’ understanding of food webs: Identification of a learning hierarchy and related misconceptions. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 22(5), 421–436. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.3660220505

Hokayem, H., & Gotwals, A. W. (2016). Early elementary students’ understanding of complex ecosystems: A learning progression approach. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 53(10), 1524–1545. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21336

Kultusministerkonferenz. (2004). Bildungsstandards im Fach Biologie für den Mittleren Schulabschluss. Luchterhand. http://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/Dateien/veroeffentlichungen_beschluesse/2004/2004_12_16-Bildungsstandards-Biologie.pdf

Mambrey, S., Schreiber, N., & Schmiemann, P. (2020). Young students’ reasoning about ecosystems: The role of systems thinking, knowledge, conceptions, and representation. Research in Science Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-020-09917-x

Mambrey, S., Timm, J., Landskron, J. J., & Schmiemann, P. (2020). The impact of system specifics on systems thinking. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 57(10), 1632–1651. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21649

Mehren, R., Rempfler, A., Buchholz, J., Hartig, J., & Ulrich-Riedhammer, E. M. (2018). System competence modelling: Theoretical foundation and empirical validation of a model involving natural, social and human-environment systems. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 55(5), 685–711. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21436

Schollum, B. (1983). Arrows in science diagrams: Help or hindrance for pupils? Research in Science Education, 13(1), 45–59. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02356692

Sweeney, L. B., & Sterman, J. D. (2007). Thinking about systems: Student and teacher conceptions of natural and social systems. System Dynamics Review, 23(2-3), 285–311. https://doi.org/10.1002/sdr.366