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Using Archetypes to Teach Systems Thinking in an Engineering Master’s Course

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Computer Aided Systems Theory – EUROCAST 2022 (EUROCAST 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13789))

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Abstract

Systems Thinking can help to solve complex problems in different domains. For an engineering master’s program, we designed a seminar course to teach Systems Thinking. For the seminar we use qualitative models known as archetypes as conceptual models and the Covid-19 pandemic as problem context. In this paper we describe the course design and report findings from running it. Based on students’ evaluation and the materials they produced throughout the course, our findings (1) support our design assumptions regarding student motivation, (2) give hints on students’ struggling with Systems Thinking and understanding and applying archetypes in particular. With this we want to contribute to the discussion of how to teach Systems Thinking in Higher Education.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Diversity Studies in Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 9, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany

    Meike Tilebein & Jan Wunderlich

  2. Department of Technical Teaching and Learning, University of Darmstadt, Alexanderstraße 6, 64283, Darmstadt, Germany

    Ralf Tenberg

Authors
  1. Meike Tilebein
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  2. Jan Wunderlich
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  3. Ralf Tenberg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Meike Tilebein .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

    Roberto Moreno-Díaz

  2. Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Oberösterreich, Austria

    Franz Pichler

  3. Department of Computer Science and Institute of Cybernetics, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

    Alexis Quesada-Arencibia

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Tilebein, M., Wunderlich, J., Tenberg, R. (2022). Using Archetypes to Teach Systems Thinking in an Engineering Master’s Course. In: Moreno-Díaz, R., Pichler, F., Quesada-Arencibia, A. (eds) Computer Aided Systems Theory – EUROCAST 2022. EUROCAST 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13789. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25312-6_76

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25312-6_76

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-25311-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-25312-6

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