Introducing Systems Thinking to the Engineer of 2020

Abstract

He has served as assistant chair for undergraduate affairs since 2010. His teaching mainly involves hydrology, hydraulics, and environmental fluid mechanics, and his research focuses on mixing in lakes, rivers, and oceans. He has served as an associate editor of Limnology and Oceanography and the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering since 2005.

Design research on systems thinking approach in veterinary education

“…In a related study, not only rich pictures, but also causal loop diagrams and a chart of the behavior of key variables in a system over time, were utilized. These three techniques used together successfully improved students' systems-thinking skills (Rehmann, Rover, Laingen, Mickelson, & Brumm, 2011). This study was conducted in an ISU engineering program that focused on four pillar areas (leadership, innovation, global awareness, and systems thinking).…”

“…In summary, most students in higher education had static views on dynamic systems (Raia, 2005), although a systems-thinking, paradigm based course helped students develop their engineering thinking (Frank et al, 2003). However, students in an engineering program were able to address factors within and outside of engineering and connections between elements after working on a project that included a causal relationship diagram and a time chart (Rehmann et al, 2011;Vanasupa et al, 2008). In addition, students developed their understanding of systems of differential equations through dynamic visualization; real-world scenarios; graphical symbolizations; and reasoning of prior knowledge, context, and algebra (Allen, 2006).…”

“…Furthermore, Veterinary Medicine educators should emphasize teaching that includes generalized concepts of system properties and related variables and solving problems based on complex systems (Hopkins et al, 1987). Moreover, identifying key variables and deriving behavior over time from a causal loop should be included (Rehmann et al, 2011).…”

“…A rich picture of activities or a concept map, and examining behavior over time with a causal diagram, can enable students to visualize the big picture and further determine the key factors that could change situations or affect problems (Assaraf et al, 2013;Rehmann et al, 2011;Vanasupa et al, 2008).…”

“…In addition, some of the current diagnostic questions that did not reflect instructional improvement in knowledge should be revised to show the relationships with others. The project developers should examine the assessments used in the studies such as Raia (2005), Frank et al (2003, Rehmann et al (2011), Vanasupa et al (2008, Allen (2006), Bare (1970) which listed in the literature reviews for ideas that might be applied to assessment in Veterinary Medicine.…”