The geographer Graham Chapman, who has died aged 70 of a heart attack, applied complexity theory showing how order and structure can be found in complex or apparently chaotic situations to problems he saw in south Asia. In the early 1970s, he explored how in northern India farmers used folklore and local calendars in their decision-making, and how their knowledge clashed with that of outside experts. It led him to develop, with colleagues, innovative role-playing games to simulate the experiences of small-scale farmers in the developing world, using real-life data from his field studies and from climate records.
The games enabled students and others to experience the complexities of decision-making in a fragile and uncertain situation a more effective approach than trying to get them to understand issues in an abstract, intellectual way. Graham understood the importance of "experiential learning" long before it became fashionable.
Continue reading...