DOI
10.1080/03098265.2019.1661368

Summary
This study is concerned with the teaching of a time-geographic approach that enables student learning on the basis of systems thinking through contextual analysis. The authors make reference to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The study took place in a Swedish university as a yearly course implemented over the period of 9 years (2007-2015). Results were obtained through the review of 48 exam papers on students’ ability to utilise a time-geographic contextual analysis of commodity chains and sustainability. Westermark & Jansund begin by describe the challenge associated between understanding sustainability and complex geographical relationships. Systems thinking is necessary for understanding complex commodity chains for all actors involved. They state that ‘If the goal is sustainable development, actors need to master complex interdependencies and understand personal choices in relation to sustainability’.

The course covered 5 weeks of studies and aimed to enhance student understanding of social change and interdependencies between places and regions in a global context – it covered the following geography curriculum areas: population, development, economy, resources, politics, culture, urban and rural landscapes.

Westermark & Jansund describe time-geographic approach as providing students with 1. A situational learning environment giving rise to developing socio-cultural perspectives, and 2. Creating an experiential learning environment – enabling students to take personal interest in their topic and ‘learn by doing’ as opposed to lecturing.

In the course, students were asked to complete an assignment (see appendix below for brief) requiring them to collect data from the internet, through interviews, reports, media and other sources. The authors go on to describe the assessment process in further detail and provide analysis on the specific result obtained at this Swedish University.  

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
This study is relevant to teaching methods for sustainable development and provides a basis for the need to develop systems thinking to understand the complex issues of commodity chains an their sustainability.

Westermark & Jansund reference Gibson & Fox (2018) for their identification of three categories of sustainability problems – 1. Problems that are simply defined and thus simple to solve, 2. Problems that are complex and require in depth analysis to be understood and may resist solutions and 3. Problems that may be ambiguous, requiring interdisciplinary and multi stakeholder perspectives, and may require multiple solutions because one effective solution may need to be realigned as the problem changes. Gibson & Fox (2018) may be a useful resource for further study. This reference has been followed up and an image from mofox.com has been attached to the appendix below.

The description of the student assignment is relevant to the development of new learning methods to enhance complex systems knowledge.

Point of Strength
The time-geographic learning approach is described in this study and could regarded as a method of reimagining the education of sustainability issues, complex systems and systems thinking.

The student assignment designed for the development of understanding of time-geographic contextual analysis of commodity chains and sustainability is pasted below. This resource would be useful for the reimagining of teaching systems thinking and complex systems. It may also be used a template for multiple learning objectives.


Appendix

 

‘Table 2. The assignment.

(1) Select a multinational company and one of its commodities . Collect information about the commodity and the company regarding the production process and sustainability issues. (Data collection phase)

(2) Make a map showing various locations in the world that are involved in the commodity chain/production system. Reflect on why different parts of the production process are located in these particular locations. (Applying data to a static traditional map)

(3) Make one or several individual path(s) based on the information you reported above. Systematically identify subprojects in pockets of local order and show their spatial location along the x-axis and the individual path of the commodity along the y-axis. (Link time and space to identify process and relationships in time and space between different pockets of local order.)

(4) Reflect on sustainability aspects in the contexts that appear in the production system, in different locations and subprojects in pockets of local order.(Reflect and analyze contexual relationships by applying information about sustainability challenges from step one. Discuss causes and effects in subprojects in pockets of local order that may be proximate/immediate or ultimate in time and space.)

(5) Discuss how production systems and/or parts of the system may change due to changing conditions in the environment. Examples of such events may be a recession, environmental regulations, changes in oil prices, or a natural disaster. Discuss potential sustainability effects for individual people, businesses and local communities.’

 

Gibson & Fox image unavailable in Zotero – follow https://mofox.com/your-biggest-problem-is-impossible-to-solve-and-thats-a-good-thing-part-ii/