The repertory grid as a tool for evaluating the development of students’ ecological system thinking abilities

• Pupils entered learning process with cognitive readiness to explore local ecosystem.
• Students developed more complex view of the local ecosystem within STH-hierarchy.
• In post-test, analysis level decreased, synthesis and implementation levels increased.
• Students developed ability to generalize environmental and ecological phenomena.
• The students’ RG-maps reveal diverse conceptual models of the local ecosystem.

Comprehension of complex systems is essential for in-depth understanding of environmental issues. This study assessed the impact of a place-based ecological learning unit on development of junior high school students’ systems thinking skills. It implemented, in a paired pretest–posttest design with 20 students, a qualitative approach using the Repertory Grid-Technique. Qualitative data analysis used the Systems Thinking Hierarchy (STH)-model.Data indicate that most of the students advanced to a higher level within the STH-hierarchy, and developed the ability to generalize ecological phenomena.Findings support that in relation to system thinking, the repertory grid is an effective tool for assessing learners’ conceptual models and they broaden the implementation of RG as a research tool to the context of ecological complexity.