May 2021

The leadership team for the Systems Thinking in Education SIG invites you to access the Online Volunteer Reviewer System for the 2022 AERA Annual meeting. Please take a quick minute to sign up to review proposals for our SIG by clicking here

Please calendar the following dates. The deadline to volunteer as a reviewer is May 20th, 2021. Those selected to join the review panel will receive an invitation in early June. A three-week window will be provided for proposal review beginning August 10th.  

Please access our web page to learn about and plan ahead for the outstanding article and the outstanding dissertation awards. Encourage your doctoral students to apply for the latter. 

https://www.aera.net/SIG124/AERA-Annual-Meeting

We look forward to your participation. As always, please reach out if you have questions.

Warmest wishes on a great close to the academic year!

Miriam Ezzani (Chair) and Jackie Mania Singer (Chair-Elect) on behalf of the Systems Thinking in Education SIG Leadership Team

Dear Systems Thinking in Education SIG Community,

I hope this message finds you in the best of health and spirit!

This is our inaugural year for SIG Awards (CLICK HERE for details):

We look forward to receiving your award nominations! 

Best wishes always,

Miriam Ezzani on behalf of the Systems Thinking in Education SIG Leadership Team

Sending a quick reminder . . .

We will hold elections for 2 positions -- Chair-Elect and Program Chair-Elect. The Program Chair-Elect is a 2-year term followed by two years as Program Chair and the Chair-Elect is a one-year term followed by two years as Chair. 

If you are interested in serving, then please send the following by September 28th to m.d.ezzani@tcu.edu

• The full name of the candidate
• The institutional affiliation of the candidate;
• The candidate’s email address;
• A biographical statement for the candidate, which can be up to 250 words.

Election Timeline

Systems Thinking SIG members, hello! 

We hope you and yours are in the best of health and spirit!

 August 1, 2020  

*REMINDER*  Proposal deadline extended to August 14th, 11:59 PM PDT

• AERA has decided to convene a virtual annual meeting in 2021, stay tuned for more information.

 This is our inaugural year for SIG Awards!

• Outstanding Article in Systems Thinking in Education - Nominations Close 12/1/2020

• Systems Thinking Outstanding Dissertation Award - Nominations Close 12/1/2020

We commend AERA's efforts to safeguard the health and well-being of its membership and that of the Orlando community.

We look forward to receiving your proposals and award nominations!

Chair, Miriam Ezzani on behalf of the Systems Thinking in Education SIG Leadership Team

July 10, 2020

Greetings! 

We hope that you and yours are well! 

We have a few exciting announcements to share with you!

First, check out the new leadership team by accessing the "Who We Are" page. We want to acknowledge and thank outgoing members, Chad Green, Noelle Paufler, Bill Watson, and Sunnie Watson. 

We're also excited to announce that the SIG awards have been approved by the AERA executive committee and 2021 will be the inaugural year. We welcome nominations for Outstanding Article in Systems Thinking in Education and Systems Thinking Outstanding Dissertation Award. The formal call for nominations will be sent by email on August 1st. Stay tuned -- meanwhile here's the eligibility criteria. 

Eligibility criteria for Outstanding Article: The article must have been published in a peer-reviewed or editor-reviewed journal within the prior three years and represent a contribution to systems thinking research and/or theory.

 Eligibility criteria for Outstanding Dissertation Award: Dissertations must be completed and defended successful during the two-year time period prior to the deadline for nominations of the award (time period from December 2018 to December 2020).

Meanwhile, we look forward to receiving your conference proposals by the July 22nd deadline.

Warmest wishes,

Miriam Ezzani on behalf of the Systems Thinking in Education SIG Leadership Team

June 22, 2018

Dear Members of the Systems Thinking in Education SIG,

Hope you're having a great summer!

We welcome your proposals for the Systems Thinking SIG for the AERA conference in Toronto, Canada in April 2019. The deadline is July 23rd at 11:59 pm.

Please see the attached call [right pane]. We look forward to hearing from you!

Best,

Noelle Paufler and Miriam Ezzani, Program Co-chairs

Systems Thinking in Education Special Interest Group

The 2019 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting Friday, April 5 - Tuesday, April 9

Toronto, Canada

The theme of the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting is “Leveraging Education Research in a ‘Post-Truth’ Era: Multimodal Narratives to Democratize Evidence”. AERA President Amy Stuart Wells, in her call for submissions, asks a number of questions:

“The question for education researchers is how, in a so-called ‘post-truth’ political era when evidence is shunted and emotion is exploited, can we make our research matter to lessen inequality and increase educational opportunities? How do we have an impact when our most conscientious methodology—measuring, understanding, and communicating material and experiential “realities”—is increasingly discredited by those who construct alternate truths to serve their agendas? Furthermore, how can   our findings speak to and of emotions such as fear and anxiety, which are regularly scapegoated onto the most marginalized individuals rather than attributed to their economic and social causes?”

The purpose of the Systems Thinking in Education SIG is to “focus on applications of systems thinking principles to address various issues in education” (Systems Thinking in Education website). This year’s theme “Leveraging Education Research in a ‘Post-Truth’ Era: Multimodal Narratives to Democratize Evidence” aligns well with the purpose of our SIG. How do we contribute to the charge of leveraging educational research to lessen inequality and increase educational opportunities through applications of systems thinking? In keeping with the Systems Thinking in Education SIG’s mission, we invite proposals that will contribute to our ongoing conversation about the use of systems thinking in research, evaluation, and applied practice in the areas of educational practice, policy, research, and professional preparation.

This year’s call encourages a wide range of proposals that span a diversity of issues, populations and contexts. We encourage field, applied, and evaluation research, as well as theoretically oriented studies of systems thinking in education. Equally valued is research that focuses on systems thinking as a basis for program development in educational settings that directly impact the lives of all students. Further to this, we encourage studies that examine the application of systems thinking in the design or redesign of educational systems that bring attention to ameliorating inequality in educational opportunity.

In the spirit of this year’s theme of leveraging educational research using multimodal narratives to democratize evidence, we encourage proposals that address:

• Field, applied, and evaluation research, as well as theoretically oriented studies of systems thinking in education with a particular interest in examples that demonstrate knowledge to action
• Design and development of educational settings that directly impact the lives of students by paying attention to inequality of educational opportunity
• Application of systems thinking in educator preparation programs that focus on the ethical underpinnings of providing all students with educational opportunities
• Applications of systems thinking in examining inquiry-based approaches and learning communities (communities of practice) within schools and related educational settings
• Studies that examine the use of systems thinking in policy development and analysis
• Methodologies for research and program evaluation that utilize systems theories and systems thinking as a basis for research design that addresses renewed attention to inequality in education
• Discussion around the intersection of systems-based research and the application of findings to policy and practice. At a time of increasing emphasis on change and reform in educational policy and practice, how does systems thinking influence and inform research, evaluation, and practice? How can research informed by systems theory be leveraged as evidence in a democracy?
• Presentation of theoretical and applied research approaches that have used systems theory to analyze and interpret findings, draw conclusions, and offer recommendations
• Presentation of practice-based programs and pedagogical approaches at both the whole school and classroom levels that used systems theory as a basis for design and implementation
• Curricular or pedagogical approaches that emphasize/utilize systems theory as a basis for student learning about systems and/or using systems thinking approaches to learning.

The Systems Thinking in Education SIG prides itself in offering a welcoming venue for papers, discussion roundtables, symposia, and posters that draw on transdisciplinary theories and constructs, integrated methods, and research approaches that aim to answer a breadth of questions from causal to interpretive/descriptive. The program chair invites submissions for papers, discussion roundtables, symposia, and posters from both established and emerging scholars from a diverse set of institutions and geographical regions, domestic and international. Individuals undertaking research that is not supported with external funding are particularly encouraged to submit their proposals to the Systems Thinking in Education SIG. Please be aware that proposals must be submitted electronically by using the AERA Online Proposal Submission System at http://www.aera.net/

THE SUBMISSION SYSTEM CLOSES at 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) on JULY 23, 2018.

A few reminders:

• For both paper and session submissions, only submissions that have not been published or presented at another professional meeting are eligible for review.
• Submissions for papers, discussion/roundtables, and posters must be in the form of a narrative paper.
• No individual may appear as first author on more than two submissions, and an individual may not appear on the program more than four times.
• A paper or session submission must not contain any references to the paper’s authors, and each submission may be submitted to only a single committee, division, or SIG.

Additional information can be found at the 2019 Annual Meeting and the Call for Submissions webpages located on http://www.aera.net/.

If you have specific questions, please feel free to contact the 2019 Systems Thinking in Education SIG Program Chair, Miriam Ezzani, University of North Texas (miriam.ezzani@unt.edu) or Program Chair-Elect, Noelle Paufler, University of North Texas (noelle.paufler@unt.edu)

May 21, 2018

Hello Systems Thinking SIG members,

It's time to volunteer to review proposals for AERA 2019, "Leveraging Education Research in a 'Post-Truth' Era," in Toronto. We had a robust program this year, and are looking to grow for 2019. 

Please volunteer before the deadline of Tuesday, May 22nd. 

As a reviewer, you help shape the program, and have a focused voice in shaping the scholarship in its early stages. For our seasoned folks, we need your input here. For our junior folks, need I say that this is good for service to the profession.  

Please follow these steps: 
1) Log in at aera.net 

American Educational Research Association > Home

aera.net

The American Educational Research Association (AERA), founded in 1916, is concerned with improving the educational process by encouraging scholarly inquiry related to education and evaluation and by promoting the dissemination and practical application of research results.

2) Click "My AERA" tab. 
3) Scroll to the 2019 Annual Meeting and click "volunteer to review." 
4) Follow the prompts, with your areas of interest/expertise.                     

Drs. Noelle Paufler and Miriam Ezzani

Program Co-Chairs 

March 26, 2018

Dear Systems Thinking in Education SIG Members,

As we near the AERA conference in NY, please take some time to insert these AERA Systems Thinking SIG events in your calendar.

At the business meeting, Dr. Patrick Jenlink has graciously accepted an invitation to further the discussion on 'Systems Thinking as a Solution to Failed Educational Reform Efforts' (see paper session on 4/15). We look forward to hearing his thoughts and yours regarding this topic!

Sunday, April 15, 2018:

Monday, April 16, 2018:

See you in a few weeks!

Warmest wishes,
Miriam Ezzani and Noelle Paufler
Program Co-Chairs, AERA - Systems Thinking in Education SIG