DOI
https://doi.org/10.2478/achi-2019-0016

Summary
The present study presents theoretical issues regarding systems thinking, as well as examples of items which could be used to assess systems thinking on the topic of manipulation of functional groups in organic chemistry. Authors report a variety of methods for the evaluation of systems thinking by assessing students’ understanding of simple system diagrams, by using the ‘think aloud’ procedure, interviews and cognitive mapping. Research regarding systemic thinking in Chemistry classroom focused mainly on systemic thinking assessment questions (SAQs). The SAQs include a smaller number of concepts in their structure than systemics diagrams, and could have diverse geometric shapes: triangular, quadrilateral, pentagonal, etc. The clockwise or anticlockwise direction of relationships between concepts must be specified.

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
The paper deals with systems thinking.
Systems thinking is considered as the ability to think holistically, to observe the non-obvious connections between the parts of the system, and to understand why parts of a system act in the way they act. Furthermore, systems thinking is related with the ability to: identify systems, understand systems, predict system behavior, design changes to systems in order to produce desired effects.

Point of Strength
The strength of the publication is the examples of items which could be used to assess systems thinking on the topic of manipulation of functional groups in organic chemistry