Educating Undergraduate Students on Systems Thinking and System Dynamics

Here we propose ideas on educating students on systems thinking and dynamics which have wide applications in engineering and technology management. This is from an ongoing study, involving the design of systems-oriented undergraduate courses at Izmir University. These courses are being designed to enrich the undergraduate education in engineering and social sciences in general, and technology management in particular. The first course in the sequence is Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, introducing basics of systems thinking and its application. The subject matter of this paper is the second and the third courses: Introduction to Dynamic Systems, and System Dynamics and Managing Complexity. The former is on the essentials of Systems Theory, covering both linear and nonlinear systems. This course establishes the theoretical and analytical grounds for the latter. The objectives of System Dynamics and Managing Complexity are designed to present a combination of quantitative and qualitative tools for modeling complex systems (industrial systems, socio-economic systems, ecological systems, etc.) and to teach the application of systems dynamics methodology. All three courses are offered to students of natural sciences, social sciences, and engineering. This particular approach to systems thinking and system dynamics will produce relatively better results in teaching technology management topics.

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