One of the best ways to remember material is to apply it. Use the prompts below to identify systems.
1) Wherever you are right now, look around and see how many systems you can identify that you care about.
List three examples of systems or take pictures of them. Add a few sentences about makes it a system and why you care about it.
2) Look at a news story and write a few sentences about how the pieces of the system interact to influence the whole.
Choose a headline from a news website that provides an example of how the connections of a system shape its behavior and take a screen shot. Write a few sentences explaining how interconnections cause the behavior described in the headline.
It might look something like this:
3) Write a few sentences about a way you could change the connections in a system you are part of to improve it.
For example, you could provide one part of the system with better information (say about the energy use of a device in your office or food shipped a long distance in your families diet). Or you could interview a partner to learn more about how your system interacts with other connected systems and use that knowledge to improve what you do.
After you write your paragraph, try out your own advice.