Torres, Robert. 2009. Using Gamestar Mechanic Within a Nodal Learning Ecology to Learn Systems Thinking: A Worked Example. International Journal of Learning and Media 1(2)

We are currently witnessing a foregrounding of complexity as one of the defining characteristics of our new century. Stephen Hawking (2000) has said that we are living in the era of complexity and that complexity itself will form the science of the 21st century. Similarly, Heinz Pagel (1988) has written that those who master this science will form the economic, political, and cultural superpowers of this new century (Rambihar and Rambihar 2009). That we are living in a global era of vastly complex economic, political, and technological change may be in part why “complex” or “systems thinking” has been identified in many a current list as a critical 21st-century skill. Though research has shown that systems thinking is a seemingly difficult skill to attain (Sweeney and Sterman 2007), in recent years game scholars (Gee 2007; Salen 2007; Zimmerman 2007) and science and engineering organizations (Federation of American Scientists 2006) have claimed that video game play and game design may be useful means through which to develop this essential skill.