Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-txr5j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-18T01:09:33.037Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

MEASURING THE VALUE OF SYSTEMS THINKING FOR DESIGN-CENTRIC ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2020

S. Varadarajan*
Affiliation:
Indian Institute of Information Technology Design & Manufacturing Kancheepuram, India

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Systems thinking, design thinking and strategic thinking have been identified as important competencies for future engineers. Many institutions have introduced these subjects into their engineering courses. However, there is need for a deeper appreciation of the underlying assumptions behind these strands of thinking and ways to measure their impact. This paper draws on a four-year experience in implementing systems thinking in a design-centric engineering program in India. It presents the approach adopted and a complexity-based measure to track development in systems thinking competence.

Type
Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

References

Buchanan, R. (2019), “Systems Thinking and Design Thinking: The Search for Principles in the World We Are Making. She Ji: The Journal of Design”, Economics, and Innovation, Vol. 5, pp. 85104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2019.04.001Google Scholar
Buckle, P. (2018), “Maturity Models for Systems Thinking”, Systems, Vol. 6, p. 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems6020023CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Camelia, F. and Ferris, T.L.J. (2017), “Undergraduate Students’ Engagement With Systems Thinking: Results of a Survey Study”, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, Vol. 47, pp. 31653176. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSMC.2016.2563386CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cascini, G., Fantoni, G. and Montagna, F. (2013), “Situating needs and requirements in the FBS framework”, Design Studies, Vol. 34 No. 5, pp. 636662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2012.12.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castelle, K.M. and Jaradat, R.M. (2016), “Development of an Instrument to Assess Capacity for Systems Thinking. Procedia Computer Science”, Complex Adaptive Systems Los Angeles, CA November 2-4, 2016, Vol. 95, pp. 8086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2016.09.296Google Scholar
Conley, C. (2010), “Leveraging Design's Core Competencies”, Design Management Review, Vol. 15, pp. 4551. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1948-7169.2004.tb00171.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erden, M.S. et al. (2008), “A review of function modeling: Approaches and applications”, AI EDAM, Vol. 22, pp. 147169. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0890060408000103Google Scholar
Flores, J.A. et al. (2012), “Senior Project Design Success and Quality: A Systems Engineering Approach. Procedia Computer Science”, Conference on Systems Engineering Research, Vol. 8, pp. 452460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2012.01.085Google Scholar
Frank, M. (2012), “Engineering Systems Thinking: Cognitive Competencies of Successful Systems Engineers. Procedia Computer Science”, Conference on Systems Engineering Research, Vol. 8, pp. 273278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2012.01.057Google Scholar
Greene, M. et al. (2017), “Design Thinking Vs. Systems Thinking for Engineering Design: What's the difference? [WWW Document]”, DS 87-2 Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED 17) Vol 2: Design Processes, Design Organisation and Management, Vancouver, Canada, 21-25.08.2017.Google Scholar
Greene, M. and Papalambros, P.Y. (2016), “A cognitive framework for engineering systems thinking”, Conference on Systems Engineering Research, March 22-24, 2016, Huntsville, AL, USA.Google Scholar
Grohs, J.R. et al. (2018), “Assessing systems thinking: A tool to measure complex reasoning through ill-structured problems”, Thinking Skills and Creativity, Vol. 28, pp. 110130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2018.03.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hiller, K., Remington, S. and Armstrong, C. (2012), “Assessing systems thinking skills in two undergraduate sustainability courses: A comparison of teaching strategies”, Journal of Sustainability Education, Vol. 3.Google Scholar
Huang, S. et al. (2015), “Systems thinking skills of undergraduate engineering students”, 2015 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE). Presented at the 2015 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), pp. 15. https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2015.7344341Google Scholar
Jetter, A. (2003), “Educating the Guess: Strategies, Concepts and Tools for the Fuzzy Front End of Product Development”, Proceedings of PICMET 2003:Technology Management for Reshaping the World, July 20-24, 2003, Portland, OR, pp. 261-272.Google Scholar
Junior, J.d.C., Diehl, J.C. and Snelders, D. (2019), “A framework for a systems design approach to complex societal problems”, Design Science, Vol. 5. https://doi.org/10.1017/dsj.2018.16Google Scholar
Lavi, R. and Dori, Y.J. (2019), “Systems thinking of pre- and in-service science and engineering teachers”, International Journal of Science Education, Vol. 41, pp. 248279. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2018.1548788CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leclerc, R. and Horan, R. (2018), “‘Fit’ for change: measuring designer competence”, International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, Vol. 6, pp. 185210. https://doi.org/10.1080/21650349.2017.1302363CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinha, K. and Suh, E.S. (2018), “Pareto-optimization of complex system architecture for structural complexity and modularity”, Research in Engineering Design, Vol. 29, pp. 123141. https://doi.org/10.1007/s0016/3-017-0260-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomko, M. et al. (2017), “A bridge to systems thinking in engineering design: An examination of students’ ability to identify functions at varying levels of abstraction”, AI EDAM, Vol. 31, pp. 535549. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0890060417000439Google Scholar