An Interactive Introduction to Organismal and Molecular Biology, 2021

SYSTEMS THINKING AND THE CARBON CYCLE | 59
and it describes systems in biology (like the circulatory system or nutrient cycling), a game system (like chess,
cards, or football), and even a social system (such as 4H or Girl Scouts).
Example
For example, a football team is a system with:
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Systems thinking is one way of cognitively framing how we examine the world around us. In contrast to the
more common mechanistic or deterministic model that analyzes and understands the whole as the sum of its
parts, systems thinking moves the focus of analysis away from the parts themselves and instead concentrates on
understanding how the different parts interact with each other.
This is a fundamental difference from traditional analysis (analysis means to break into constituent parts);
systems thinking works “by expanding its view to take into account larger and larger numbers of interactions”
as a system is being studied (Aronson 1996).
Example
Here is a classic example to show the difference between traditional analysis and systems thinking.