Systems thinking is a holistic approach that puts the study of wholes before that of parts. This study explores systems thinking among school middle leaders--teachers who have management responsibility for a team of teachers or for an aspect of the school's work. Interviews were held with 93 school coordinators, among them year heads, heads of…

As instructional leadership involves attempts to understand and improve complex systems, this study explored principals' perceptions regarding possible contributions of systems thinking to instructional leadership. Based on a qualitative analysis, systems thinking was perceived by middle and high school principals to contribute to the following…

Science education today has become increasingly focused on research into complex natural, social and technological systems. In this study, we examined the development of high-school biology students' systems understanding of the human body, in a three-year longitudinal study. The development of the students' system understanding was evaluated…