Games, simulations and role plays for developing systems thinking

In Engineering, there is increasing demand for graduates who have the ability to think systematically. Senge (2006) describes systems thinking as: "a discipline for seeing the 'structures' that underlie complex situations"¦seeing wholes [and offering] a language that begins by restructuring the way we think". For engineering students, this means recognising the complex, messy and unpredictable combination of human behaviour and human created technologies that they are required to work with. Engineers, like all professional specialists, work with others who have very different interests, priorities and worldviews. They need the ability to negotiate and adapt their work accordingly, and to deal with the unexpected rather than rely solely on planning, prediction and control.