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GLOSSARY INQUIRY: COMPLEX SYSTEM
Any self-organizing and adaptive form or network. A complex system arises through the dynamic, non-linear interaction of its component parts, yet embodies emergent possibilities exceeding the sum of these parts.
Examples of complex systems include living cells, the human brain, languages, cities and ecosystems. Such systems are self-determining and differ from the non-living, mechanical simple and complicated systems described by traditional science. Whereas simple and complicated (mechanical) systems are described in terms of Euclidian geometry, complex systems are better understood by drawing upon fractal geometry and related concepts of recursion, feedback, scale independence and self-similarity.
Among the complex systems that are of interest to educators are the human individual, classroom collectives, communities and cultural systems.
See related terms: Science, Emergence, Chaos, Autopoiesis, Language.
