Evaluation and program planning

DSRP has been used to apply systems thinking to the fields of evaluation and program planning, including a National Science Foundation-funded initiative to evaluate of large-scale science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education programs, as well as evaluations of the complexity science education programs of the Santa Fe Institute.

the DSRP method, as a set of cognitive tools, is universally applicable to any field of knowledge.

Education

The DSRP method has been used extensively in educational settings from preschool through post-secondary settings. The DSRP method, as applied in education, is intended to work with existing subject-specific curricula to build thinking skills and provide a way for students to structure content knowledge.[

Evaluation and program planning

DSRP has been used to apply systems thinking to the fields of evaluation and program planning, including a National Science Foundation-funded initiative to evaluate of large-scale science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education programs, as well as evaluations of the complexity science education programs of the Santa Fe Institute.

Physical, natural, and social sciences

Because its creators claim that DSRP is both an epistemological and an ontological theory (that is, it is predictive not only of what is known but also how new things will come to be known and how those things are actually structured a priori), it could be used not only to deconstruct existing (known) knowledge about any phenomena but also can be used as a predictive and prescriptive tool to advance any area of knowledge about any physical, natural, or social phenomena.

DSRP theory posits that the mind–body problem and symbol grounding problem that causes a disconnect between our knowledge of physical things and the physical world (the basis of systems thinking) is resolved because our universal DSRP cognitive structures evolved within the boundaries and constraints of the physical, chemical, and biological laws.

That is, ontological underlying structure of physical things as well as the epistemological underlying structure of ideas is reconciled under DSRP

Educational outcomes

With continued use, the method is supposed to improve six specific types of thinking skills:

• Critical thinking improves as people learn to examine the reasoning behind the distinctions they draw and the perspectives and relationships that influence how information is presented

• Creative thinking improves as people make connections (i.e. relationships) between new pieces of information.

• Systems thinking improves as one becomes increasingly fluent with all four elements of DSRP.

• Interdisciplinary thinking improves as people reconsider boundaries (i.e. distinctions) and make connections between new pieces of information.

• Scientific thinking improves as people learn to analyze information in a logical way.

• Emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior improves as people learn to take multiple perspectives—particularly to imagine the perspectives of other people.

In addition, the DSRP method is supposed to improve teacher effectiveness

DSRP method

DSRP as a method is built upon two premises: first, that humans build knowledge, with knowledge and thinking being in a continuous feedback loop (e.g., constructivism), and second, that knowledge changes (e.g., evolutionary epistemology).[4]:19–21 The DSRP method builds upon this constructivist view of knowledge by encouraging users to physically and graphically examine information. Users take concepts and model them with physical objects or diagrams. These objects are then moved around and associated in different ways to represent some piece of information, or content, and its context in terms of distinctions, systems, relationships, or perspectives. Once a concept has been modeled and explored using at least one of the four elements of DSRP, the user goes back to see if the existing model is sufficient for his or her needs, and if not, chooses another element and explores the concept using that. This process is repeated until the user is satisfied with the model.[

The DSRP method has several parts, including mindset, root lists, guiding questions, tactile manipulatives, and DSRP diagrams.[citation needed]

Mindset

The DSRP mindset is the paradigmatic shift toward thinking about underlying structure of ideas rather than only the content of speech acts, curriculum, or information of any kind. The DSRP mindset means the person is explicating underlying structure.

Root lists

Root lists are simply lists of various concepts, behaviors, and cognitive functions that are "rooted in" D, S, R, or P. These root lists show the research linkages between the four universal structures and existing structures which users may be more familiar with such as categorization, sorting, cause and effect, etc.

Guiding questions

Guiding questions provide users with something akin to the Socratic method of questioning but using DSRP as the underlying logic. Users pose "guiding questions", of which there are two for each structure of DSRP. The guiding questions are:[4]

• Distinctions

  • What is __________?

  • What is not __________?

• Systems

  • Does _________ have parts?

  • Can you think of _________ as a part?

• Relationships

  • Is ________ related to __________?

  • Can you think of ________ as a relationship?

• Perspectives

  • From the perspective of __________, [insert question]?

  • Can you think about ____________ from a different perspective?

Tactile manipulatives and DSRP diagrams

Users are encouraged to model ideas with blocks or other physical objects, or to draw (diagram) ideas in terms of D, S, R, and P. This aspect of the method is promoted as a form of nonlinguistic representation of ideas, based on research showing that learners acquire and structure knowledge more effectively when information is presented in linguistic and nonlinguistic formats

Formula

The primary application of the DSRP theory is through its various methodological tools but the theory itself is a mathematical formalism that contributes to the fields of evolutionary epistemology and cognition. The formal theory states that DSRP are simple rules in a complex adaptive system that yields systems thinking:

{\displaystyle {ST}_{n}={\underset {info}{\oplus }}{\underset {j\leq n}{\otimes }}{\left\{:{D}_{o}^{i}\circ {S}_{w}^{p}\circ {R}_{r}^{a}\circ {P}_{v}^{\rho }:\right\}}_{j}}

The equation explains that autonomous agents (information, ideas or things) following simple rules (D,S,R,P) with their elemental pairs (i-o, p-w, a-r, ρ-v) in nonlinear order (:) and with various co-implications of the rules (○), the collective dynamics of which over a time series j to n leads to the emergence of what we might refer to as systems thinking (ST).

The elements of each of the four patterns follow a simple underlying logic as do the interactions between patterns. This logic underlies the unique ability of DSRP to be characterized as multivalent, but contain within it bivalency.

DSRP theory

See also: Constructive developmental framework § Four classes of dialectical thought forms

DSRP consists of four interrelated structures (or patterns), and each structure has two opposing elements. The structures and their elements are:

• Making Distinctions – which consist of an identity and an other

• Organizing Systems – which consist of part and whole

• Recognizing Relationships – which consist of action and reaction

• Taking Perspectives – which consist of point and view

There are several rules governing DSRP:

1. Each structure (D, S, R, or P) implies the existence of the other three structures.

2. Each structure implies the existence of its two elements and vice versa.

3. Each element implies its opposite (e.g. identity implies other).

These rules illustrate that DSRP is a modular, fractal, nonlinear, complex systems process. The four DSRP structures do not occur in a stepwise, linear process but in a highly interdependent, complex way.

DSRP theory states that these four structures are inherent in every piece of knowledge and are universal to all human thinking, and that any piece of information can be viewed using each of these structures to gain a deeper understanding of that information. The order in which the operations take place does not matter, as all four occur simultaneously.

Gerald Midgley pointed out that the structures of DSRP have analogues in other systems theories: distinctions are analogous to the boundaries of Werner Ulrich's boundary critique; Stafford Beer's viable system model explores nested systems (parts and wholes) in ways analogous to the "S" of DSRP; Jay Wright Forrester's system dynamics is an exploration of relationships; and soft systems methodology explores perspectives