Learning Laboratories: Designing a Reflective Learning Environment

The use of interactive gaming environments to teach systems principles has recently been gaining in popularity. One of the most promising applications of system dynamics model-based games is “learning laboratories,” workshops that blend system dynamics principles and repeated simulation game trials with ongoing conceptualization and feedback sessions to help managers gain a deeper understanding of the system within which they operate. This paper will first describe the design of such a learning laboratory, its implementation, and its use as a vehicle for learning to think more systemically. This will be followed by a discussion on how the learning lab helps unearth deep-rooted assumptions and encourages people to challenge them in a “double-loop learning” mode. Finally, the paper concludes with a brief discussion on possible future steps towards developing systems thinking skills in an organization.