Thomas Maiorana
Systems thinking can be difficult to teach to novice learners due to its abstract, unbounded nature. This paper presents a classroom escape room—The Mapmaker Lied—as a pedagogical intervention to introduce systemic design through embodied, collaborative play. Developed for undergraduate design students at a large public university, the experience immerses participants in an ambiguous, multi-scalar challenge grounded in a fictional narrative. Through this case study, I argue that playful and embodied experiences can help democratize systems learning, build tolerance for ambiguity, and foster collaborative problem-solving in ways that are both rigorous and inclusive.
Keywords: embodied experiences, ambiguity, play, experiential learning, systems, pedagogy