See the whole, not one part: The systems approach is a holistic way of looking at a problem: all the parts, and how they interact.
One part at a time
- A lake turns green. Test only the water.
- It finds too many nutrients, but not why.
The systems approach
- Look at the lake and everything linked to it.
- It finds fertiliser washing in from farms.
It works for ecological systems, like a lake, and societal ones, like a town's waste collection.
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Every system has storages and flows. Flows bring inputs in and take outputs out.
| Term | Meaning | In a lake |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | An amount of matter or energy held | Water, fish, mud |
| Flow | A movement of matter or energy | Water running in from a river |
| Input | A flow into the system | Rain (matter), sunlight (energy) |
| Output | A flow out of the system | Evaporation (matter), heat (energy) |
Storage change = inflow minus outflow. Move the sliders: when the inflow is bigger, the storage grows.
Interactive diagram
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Energy and matter: Say which one each flow carries. Sunlight is an input of energy; rain is an input of matter.
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A system boundary marks what you study. Where you draw it changes what you find.
Too narrow
- A lake study that leaves out the farms around it.
- It misses the fertiliser washing in.
Too wide
- A lake study that takes in the whole country's economy.
- Too many parts to measure or explain.
Boundaries in time: A boundary is also a time span. Measure a city's air for one week and you miss the change between winter and summer.
How this comes up: A short question on how the systems approach helps, or on what a figure's storages and flows show.
A town's river smells bad every summer. Outline how a systems approach could help the town council find the cause.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Keep it about the river: Each point names something in this river system. A general definition of a system scores little.