Systems Thinking Through Storytelling

#systemdynamics #systemsthinking

Linda Booth Sweeney and Philip Ramsey, systems educators and authors whose books help teach about systems thinking through storytelling.

Linda will share “Curious about Connections,” a simple, inquiry-based teaching framework that fosters collaborative, inclusive dialogue while promoting systems thinking, critical thinking, communication skills, and empathy. She’ll demonstrate how to use this facilitation method using picture books as well as everyday scenarios. She is excited to share this facilitation method with our System Dynamics community and to explore ways families, teachers, and professionals can use it in a variety of settings.

Phil will share about his newly published Billibonk and Frankl book series, a collection of captivating jungle-based fables that showcase principles of systems thinking through the experiences of various animal characters. The stories are engaging and relatable to both children and adults, as they demonstrate how different species in the jungle learn to collaborate and solve problems together. The Billibonk and Frankl stories aim to help children see systems and interdependencies in the world around them.

About the Speakers
Linda Booth Sweeney is an educator, writer and strategist for healthy socio-ecological systems change, Dr. Linda Booth Sweeney is internationally recognized for her efforts to make systems thinking actionable by a wide range of audiences. In her Systems Leadership Labs, Linda creates experiences for leaders to think differently, and to experiment with language, visualization tools and knowledge architecture that better mirrors the complexity they are navigating. She is co-author of The Systems Thinking Playbook, The Climate Change Playbook, and numerous other books and journal articles. Her next book, Apart Together, is a gentle introduction to systems thinking for children and will be published by Balzer & Bray in October 2023. Linda holds her doctorate from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and lives outside of Boston where she enjoys swimming in Walden Pond and amateur farming. For more information, see:

Phil is a Senior lecturer at Massey University in New Zealand, where he teaches Organizational Learning, Leadership, and Teamwork. He also works as a Director of Incite Learning, a consulting company that mainly works with schools, helping school leaders apply Organizational Learning concepts to solve tough problems.

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