K12 Practitioners' Perceptions of Learning from Failure, Creativity, and Systems Thinking: a Collective Case Study

T Logan Arrington; Alison L Moore; Lauren M Bagdy

doi:10.1007/s11528-021-00596-7

K12 Practitioners' Perceptions of Learning from Failure, Creativity, and Systems Thinking: a Collective Case Study

TechTrends. 2021;65(4):636-645. doi: 10.1007/s11528-021-00596-7. Epub 2021 Mar 6.

Authors

T Logan Arrington¹, Alison L Moore², Lauren M Bagdy³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Educational Technology and Foundations, College of Education, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA 30118 USA.
² Department of Educational Studies, College of Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208 USA.
³ Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, College of Education, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306 USA.

Abstract

This article presents the results of a collective case study exploring how K12 practitioners perceive the interaction of systems thinking, creativity, and learning from failure within their professional practice. In order to identify K12 practitioners who were well-versed in systems thinking, we targeted students within an instructional design and technology graduate program that included a course on human performance improvement (HPI). At the conclusion of the semester, all students in the course were invited to participate in an individual, semi-structured interview where they discussed the relationship among these three concepts within their professional practice. Participants described how learning from failure and creativity manifest within their practice and through systems thinking. Additionally, they identified that learning from failure and creativity are crucial components of problem solving. Further insights for how these three concepts can impact professional practice are addressed.

Keywords: Collective case study; Creativity; K12 practitioners; K12 teachers; Learning from failure; Systems thinking.