Systems Thinking Skills For Young Adults
Authors: RJ Barranco + V. Cheval · Status: Coming Summer 2026
What this book is about
Systems thinking for teens — the discipline of looking at the whole machine instead of one moving part. The book teaches feedback loops, leverage points, the iceberg model, and the most common system traps (fixes that fail, shifting the burden, tragedy of the commons, escalation). Built for teens trying to understand why their school / family / friend group / workplace / community keeps producing the same outcomes — and what actually moves the needle.
Who it's for
Grades 9–12, AP Environmental / Government / Economics, IB courses, college first-year, debate and forensics, student government, and CTE pathways in business, government, healthcare, and engineering. Pairs naturally with civics, sustainability, and design-thinking curricula.
What's inside
Thirteen chapters working from the basics (everything is a system) through reinforcing and balancing loops, the iceberg model, organizational systems, system traps, leverage points, and the moral weight of designing systems that other people have to live inside. Includes a capstone synthesis project.
Co-authorship note
Systems Thinking is the one book in the series with a true co-authorship credit — RJ Barranco's educator voice meets V. Cheval's data-and-frameworks lens. The result reads as one book, not a stitched anthology.
For educators
The free educator companion guide for this book — chapter-by-chapter teaching notes, sensitivity protocols, discussion questions, and standards-alignment documentation — lives at skillsforyoungadults.org and is freely usable in adopted classrooms and adjacent contexts.
The full fourteen-chapter classroom toolkit — twelve files per chapter (lesson plans, anchor-read excerpts, worksheets, student-retained reference cards, project rubrics, Marp slide decks, quiz banks, standards-alignment crosswalks, differentiation protocols, teacher notes) — is available to schools, districts, and programs adopting the book for classroom use. Strong adoption fit for AP Environmental Science, Engineering Design, and Business Operations electives. To inquire about classroom adoption + toolkit access, contact skills@mojavepublishing.com.
Get the book
First seven titles in the series arrive Summer 2026. Sample chapters and direct-purchase links will be posted here as the book ships.
For press, school visits, librarian inquiries, or institutional licensing: skills@mojavepublishing.com.