The authors present a theory of stochastic interactive parallel processing with special emphasis on channel interactions and their relation to system capacity. The approach is based both on linear systems theory augmented with stochastic elements and decisional operators and on a metatheory of parallel channels' dependencies that incorporates…

This contribution suggests a conceptual framework for using complexity to understand human interactions in learning organizations. The particular lens adopted for this purpose is that of the Chaos perspective. The following general concepts are described: discontinuous growth, attractors: their basins and landscapes, the chaordic properties of…

This article informs readers about early childhood in one of the poorest nations in the world--Ethiopia. Within the context of ecological systems theory, it emphasizes the characteristics of early education programs such as pre-school and basic (primary) education, and creates connections with families' views about education. The article concludes…

In this second part of the papers, exploring innovation processes from a complexity perspective, we present an empirical example to strengthen further the relevance of the approach. The example draws on a longitudinal research initiative conducted in cooperation with the Norwegian petroleum company Statoil ASA. We conducted our research into the…

As schools adopt new and varied technologies to protect the campus community, the need to look at security tools in terms of a comprehensive, layered, and integrated strategy, becomes clear. This article discusses how schools are using these security tools.

This article is an interpretive study of the theory of irreversible and dissipative systems process transformation of Nobel Prize winning physicist Ilya Prigogine and how it relates to the phenomenological study of leadership and organizational change in educational settings. Background analysis on the works of Prigogine is included as a…

This chapter describes the adaptation of the case study method to assessing increasingly complex, comprehensive reform initiatives that highlight the blurring of the boundaries between phenomenon and context and the concurrence of multiple interventions. Completed studies of two education reform programs illustrate the ongoing challenges of…

This article challenges misperceptions about the definition of systemic change in school districts. While many contemporary change efforts are described as "systemic," in fact, they are not. The author also argues that a special instance of systemic change known as systemic transformational change is required to transform entire school…

System Dynamics is a well formulated methodology for analyzing the components of a system including cause-effect relationships and their underlying mathematics and logic, time delays, and feedback loops. It began in the business and manufacturing world, but is now affecting education and many other disciplines. Having inspired by successful policy…

Informatics is a branch of computer science that concerns itself, in actuality, with the use of information systems. The objective of this paper is to focus on the business curriculum for graduate students and their gaining proficiency in informatics so that they can understand the concept of information, the access of information, the use of…

A challenge for career theory informed by constructivism is how to apply it in practice. This article describes a career counseling intervention based on the constructivist Systems Theory Framework (STF) of career development and the qualitative career assessment instrument derived from it, the My System of Career Influences (MSCI; M. McMahon, W.…

This article provides a feminist poststructural analysis of the authors' academic labor during a State of the Field Literature Review of Gender and Adult Learning for a government-funded educational body. Drawing on Foucault and feminist theorists, the authors pay particular attention to how power seeps down through the system to our bodies in our…

This article explores the concept of recovery in the wake of a loved one's death, using a cultural and developmental systems approach to understanding child, adult, and family bereavement outcomes as evolving, interdependent adaptive responses to changed circumstances of development within highly specific contexts in intergenerational time and…

Rates of overweight in youth have reached epidemic proportions and are associated with adverse health outcomes. Family-based programs have been widely used to treat overweight in youth. However, few programs incorporate a theoretical framework for studying a family systems approach in relation to youth health behavior change. Therefore, this…

This article discusses the contributions to this special issue of "Teacher Education Quarterly." At the core of all the contributions is the compellingly urgent realization that humanity is facing, and must deal with, enormous ecological and social problems and challenges. This situation has created an urgent and compelling need centered…