r o e t s Bo r e p ok u S
knew anything about 'systems behaviour'. Nevertheless, there have always been teachers who sensed that when something is analysed into its parts, much of
the original is lost. There are qualities and attributes that only exist when all the
learn something, but we must always be aware of how much we are missing. Behaviour is contextual. It arises in response to specific people and specific
ew i ev Pr
Teac he r
parts are put together in a system. When we analyse something into its parts we
places. One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a behaviour manager is to Behaviour is contextual. It try to understand a child's classroom behaviour in isolation, because it can't be arises in response to specific done. Behaviour exists as part of a system and the classroom is one of the most people and specific places. complex systems I know.
© R. I . C.Publ i cat i ons •f orr evi ew pur posesonl y•
Physicists know virtually everything there is to know about the water molecule. One large oxygen atom with two smaller hydrogen atoms attached to it. It is the 'Mickey Mouse' of the molecular world. Its behaviour is governed by well-
understood equations of atomic physics. But when you put a few zillion of these
and gurgles and sloshes. These zillions of molecules have collectively acquired a
w ww
property, liquidity, that none of them possesses alone. There's nothing in those well-understood equations of atomic physics that even hints at such a property.
. te
'Liquidity' is an emergent property.
m . u
molecules together in the same pot, suddenly you've got something that shimmers
o c . che e r o t r s super
Just because a physicist can describe a water molecule in minute detail doesn't
mean for one second that he/she would presume to be describing water. Likewise, just because you think you know everything there is to know about a child doesn't mean you can predict his or her behaviour in the classroom. Behaviours
will emerge in response to all other parts of the classroom system. You can think that you know everything there is to know about ten individuals and yet be
………be completely
completely surprised by the behaviours that EMERGE when they form a group.
surprised by the behaviours
The ability to know everything there is to know about 30 individuals does not
that EMERGE when they
imply the ability to start from this knowledge and reconstruct a classroom or the
form a group.
behaviour of the children in that class. From the interaction of the individual components down here (molecules, neurons, consumers, children) emerges R.I.C. Publications®
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