Leveraging Community Resources
Leveraging Community Resources
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The challenge and opportunity:
The challenge and opportunity:
"We don’t have the tools or community support to bring systems thinking into our classrooms.”
"We don’t have the tools or community support to bring systems thinking into our classrooms.”
Educators and students may be unaware of the free, accessible resources available to them from community resources or technologies that they need to make systems thinking practical and relevant. By integrating and leveraging community assets-such as local knowledge, networks, lived experiences, and appropriate technologies-educators can make systems thinking more concrete, connected, and sustainable across diverse educational contexts. These connections can help enrich learning and strengthen community engagement.
practical Strategies for Instructors
practical Strategies for Instructors
1. Connect with local contexts
Incorporate real-world issues from the community (e.g., water systems, agriculture, sustainability challenges) into systems thinking activities.
2. Leverage Low- and High-Tech Tools
Use low-cost local resources when advanced technologies are not available, while also exploring innovative tools like AR/VR when possible.
3. Foster Community Partnerships
Collaborate with local organizations, leaders, and networks to co-create learning opportunities that resonate with students’ lived experiences.
4. Promote Relevance
Emphasize how systems thinking connects chemistry to societal and environmental challenges that students can see in their own communities.
What Research says
What Research says
Vázquez-Villegas et al (2023)
This study found that extended reality (XR) technologies—augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)—enhance student engagement, motivation, self-efficacy, and critical thinking in higher education science courses.
AR was especially effective in increasing relevance and emotional engagement, while VR strengthened self-efficacy and critical thinking.
Vázquez‐Villegas, P.; Garay-Rondero, C. L.; Deng, B.; Mejía-Manzano, L. A.; Chen, D.; Membrillo‐Hernández, J. Effect of Extended Reality Learning Experience on Student Engagement in Science and Engineering Courses. Int. J. Instr. 2023, 16 (4). https://doi.org/10.29333/iji.2023.16452a.
Case studies from Mexico and China
Case studies from Mexico and China illustrate that when educational technologies are integrated with community and institutional contexts, they significantly enrich systems thinking and learning outcomes.
Cassassus, J.; de Ibarrola, M.; Pérez-Franco, L.; Sancho-Gil, J. M.; Tovar-Gómez, M.; Zorrilla, M. "Chapter 6. The Construction of Learning Environments: Lessons from the Mexico Exploratory Phase" in Innovating to Learn, Learning to Innovate; Centre for Educational Research and Innovation | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2008.
Abbey, C.; Ma, Y.; Akhtar, M.; Emmers, D.; Fairlie, R.; Fu, N.; Johnstone, H. F.; Loyalka, P.; Rozelle, S.; Xue, H.; Zhang, X. Generalizable Evidence That Computer Assisted Learning Improves Student Learning: A Systematic Review of Education Technology in China. Comput. Educ. Open 2024, 6, 100161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeo.2024.100161.
Rural Contexts
Rural contexts (e.g., shared use of river systems for fishing, laundry, irrigation, and drinking water) highlight the complexity of resource management, underscoring the importance of embedding community realities into systems thinking education.
Overall, research shows that community resources—whether technological, cultural, or environmental—are essential for making systems thinking relevant, scalable, and sustainable.
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