Framing Complexity in Education Through Systems Thinking Theory: A Scoping Review and Heuristic Framework

Abstract

Multicultural classrooms can be understood as complex adaptive learning environments in which cultural diversity, collaborative interaction, and systemic reasoning interact in non-linear ways. Although systems thinking, cooperative learning, and multicultural education have each received substantial scholarly attention, their intersections remain insufficiently synthesized. We conducted a scoping review of 120 empirical studies identified through searches of Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus, using a search window from January 1992 to June 2024. The earliest eligible empirical study was published in 2003. The review mapped publication trends, educational contexts, geographical distributions, teaching strategies, historical paradigms, and epistemological orientations in systems-thinking education. The findings identified 11 teaching-strategy categories, three analytical paradigms, and three epistemological orientations. Based on thematic coding, we developed the Integrative Systems Education Model (ISEM) as a heuristic framework rather than an empirically validated theory. The model identifies three proposed intersections: Cognitive Diversity Loops, Collaborative Resonance, and Nonlinear Innovation Paths. These constructs highlight how cultural epistemologies, collaborative interaction, and systems reasoning may become mutually related in complex learning environments, while also recognizing that such relationships may be moderated by facilitation quality, group composition, and cultural context. The review therefore positions ISEM as a provisional conceptual map that generates testable questions for future longitudinal, mixed-methods, and comparative research.