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System-thinking progress in engineering programs: A case for broadening the roles of students
- Source :
- Frontiers in Education, Vol 8 (2023)
- Publication Year :
- 2023
- Publisher :
- Frontiers Media S.A., 2023.
-
Abstract
- IntroductionComplex systems are prevalent in many scientific and engineering disciplines, which makes system thinking important for students of these fields. Duchifat 3 is a unique engineering educational extracurricular program, where high school students designed, assembled, and tested a nano-satellite.MethodsThis study applied qualitative methods to explore how the participants’ systems-thinking developed during the program. Participants were interviewed using the repertory grid interview, and a semi structured interview at the beginning and at the end of the project, while various observations were conducted throughout.ResultsWhile the participants were initially assigned narrow roles, each dealing with a single sub-system of the satellite, some chose to be involved with other sub-systems and aspects of the project. Our findings show that the broader the participants’ involvement was, the greater the progress they experienced in their systems-thinking. Participants who stayed focused on a single subsystem did not show progress, while participants who involved themselves with several sub-systems exhibited a more meaningful progress.DiscussionAlthough the program design aimed to assign students to a narrow role to enable them to achieve the educational goals, from the perspective of systems-thinking this was counterproductive. These findings shed light on the design of engineering programs such as the one examined here in terms of systems-thinking development. We discuss the implications of the findings for similar programs and make suggestions for improvement.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2504284X
- Volume :
- 8
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Frontiers in Education
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.06f8ad114135406289610fd2bc138f88
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1138503