This chapter discusses General Systems Theory as it applies to education, classrooms, innovations, and instructional design. The principles of equifinality, open and closed systems, the individual as the key system, hierarchical structures, optimization, stability, cooperation, and competition are discussed, and their relationship to instructional…

As traditional medical school curricula began to be criticized in the 1950s, various alternatives were proposed, including the organ-system based curriculum (organized around the organ systems of the body) and the problem-based curriculum (organized around clinical problems). From an open systems perspective, any such medical school curriculum…