I am researching several topics that revolve around General Systems Theory and its implications for education. There are four significant areas. First, Ludwig von Bertalanffy's General Systems Theory established that systems establish a "steady state" that Bertalanffy called "equifinality" which the system resists changing. Deming taught corporations that the organization system determined the output quality rather than employee efforts. Thus Deming also taught about equifinality. Rosalind Driver established research into learning science at the secondary level often encountered students with preconceived ideas that were resistant to change. These also behaved like "systems of thought" within each student. Finally, Esther Thelen established that the development of cognition in infants could be explained in terms of systems theory. Thus the concept of a "system of thought" has been established in the fundamental development of human cognition.
