Aerial view of the Amazon Rainforest, near Manaus. Photo by CIFOR

In a recent interview on the Center for Ecoliteracy’s website, systems educator Linda Booth Sweeney shares her experiences teaching children about systems thinking. The article’s title, “If You Cut a Cow in Half, Do You Get Two Cows?” immediately catches your attention. Ask children that question, she says, and of course they will answer, “No!” She talks about how children even at a young age can understand the concept of living systems and the value of keeping all the parts of a system for it to function properly.

Examples of biomimicry most often focus on mimicking form–the shape or morphology of an organism or part of an organism. Deeper biomimicry looks also at processes, or how something works. We also need to look at the whole system or ecosystem. Our manufacturing needs to work just like a living system, so the better we understand ecosystems and how the components function together, the better we will be able to mimic them in our industries and businesses.

If you’re interested in curricula and other resources for teaching children (and adults) about systems thinking, go to the the Systems Resource Room at Linda Booth Sweeney’s website.