RC4 Lecturer and Resident Fellow Elizabeth Ong Ling Lee presented her paper, "Critical Thinking Skills in System Dynamics" at a Parallel Session at the International System Dynamics Conference 2019 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, held from 21 - 25 July. The paper was very well-received. It also  attracted the attention and interest of the Human Behaviour and Psychology Special Interest Group, which invited her to present her paper to their member meeting at the conference.

The abstract of the paper is given below:

This paper argues for the need to publicize and strengthen the "products" of system dynamics (its real-life applications), and to clarify its "processes" (what using system dynamics entails in terms of the specific tasks carried out, and the thinking skills required), as a way to fuel a greater demand for system dynamics education in schools and colleges. In particular, there is a need to be clear about the critical thinking skills that students of system dynamics deploy and develop. Are these mainly restricted to the seven systems thinking skills identified by Barry Richmond? Is it feasible to emphasize the development of only one thinking skill at a time? The paper demonstrates that using a simple system dynamics tool such as a causal-loop diagram requires the simultaneous use of all seven systems thinking skills together with the use of inductive and deductive reasoning, while meeting all the standards of critical thinking.