Assessing Systems Thinking Skills in Engineering Education: Addressing Implementation Challenges and Unintended Consequences in Ill-structured Problems

John Mendoza-Garcia; Andrea Goncher-Sevilla; Mengyu Li

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Conference: 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Publication Date: June 22, 2025
Start Date: June 22, 2025
End Date: August 15, 2025
Conference Session: Systems Engineering Division (SYS) Technical Session 1
Tagged Division: Systems Engineering Division (SYS)
Page Count: 11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--55473
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/55473
Download Count: 3

Paper Authors

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John Mendoza-Garcia University of Florida orcid.org/0000-0002-4943-6222

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John Mendoza Garcia is an Instructional Associate Professor at the Department of Engineering Education in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering at the University of Florida. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Education at Purdue University, and he has a Master's and a Bachelor's in Systems and Computing Engineering from Universidad de Los Andes, in Colombia, and Universidad Nacional de Colombia respectively. He teaches and investigates the development of professional skills such as problem-solving, systems thinking, and design thinking. He worked in Industry before transitioning to academia.

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Andrea Goncher-Sevilla University of Florida orcid.org/0000-0002-1913-408X

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Andrea Goncher is an Instructional Assistant Professor in Engineering Education at the University of Florida. She earned her PhD in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech and focuses on teaching and learning projects in human centered design and humanitarian engineering.

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Mengyu Li University of Florida

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Mengyu Li is an Instructional Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at the University of Florida (UF). She teaches numerous undergraduate and graduate level ISE courses, including: Supply Chain Management, Senio

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Abstract

Systems engineering involves designing and managing complex systems interacting with human, environmental, and technological factors. Identifying and planning how to address potential implementation challenges early ensures the system is both theoretically sound and practical for real-world use. This proactive approach facilitates risk mitigation and resource optimization and helps meet intended needs and standards. Given the complexity of these systems, even well-intentioned decisions can lead to unintended consequences. These outcomes often arise from not fully understanding the system's complexity. By training students to anticipate and address such consequences, we prepare them to become responsible, ethical, and effective engineers.

In our study, first-year engineering students were tasked with completing a scenario-based assessment developed by Grohs et al. (2018), which focuses on systems thinking and problem-solving. Respondents were evaluated on their ability to assess a given scenario and identify unintended consequences and implementation challenges. We evaluated participant responses based on answers that highlighted challenges in implementing the plan, particularly the unintended consequences that could arise, both technical and contextual. We identified responses that included consideration for how these consequences might interact and affect both the short- and long-term outcomes.

When it came to implementation challenges, all students identified at least one short-term challenge related to either the technical or contextual (economic, political, environmental, social, time, etc.) aspects of the scenario. However, many struggled to recognize the interactions between different constructs at a higher level of complexity and had difficulty considering long-term challenges. Similarly, regarding unintended consequences, most students could identify potential issues related to technical or contextual factors, but they often overlooked the interactions between these various aspects.

The findings demonstrate that while students can identify short-term challenges and potential unintended consequences in isolation, they may lack the deeper understanding necessary to recognize the complexity of interactions between different aspects of a system. This highlights the need for enhanced educational strategies that emphasize the importance of considering both the interconnectedness of system components and the potential long-term consequences of decisions. This study's results help create effective teaching strategies to foster systems thinking skills in engineering students.

Citation
Format

Mendoza-Garcia, J., & Goncher-Sevilla, A., & Li, M. (2025, June), Assessing Systems Thinking Skills in Engineering Education: Addressing Implementation Challenges and Unintended Consequences in Ill-structured Problems Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . 10.18260/1-2--55473

TY - CPAPER
AB - Systems engineering involves designing and managing complex systems interacting with human, environmental, and technological factors. Identifying and planning how to address potential implementation challenges early ensures the system is both theoretically sound and practical for real-world use. This proactive approach facilitates risk mitigation and resource optimization and helps meet intended needs and standards. Given the complexity of these systems, even well-intentioned decisions can lead to unintended consequences. These outcomes often arise from not fully understanding the system&#39;s complexity. By training students to anticipate and address such consequences, we prepare them to become responsible, ethical, and effective engineers.

In our study, first-year engineering students were tasked with completing a scenario-based assessment developed by Grohs et al. (2018), which focuses on systems thinking and problem-solving. Respondents were evaluated on their ability to assess a given scenario and identify unintended consequences and implementation challenges. We evaluated participant responses based on answers that highlighted challenges in implementing the plan, particularly the unintended consequences that could arise, both technical and contextual. We identified responses that included consideration for how these consequences might interact and affect both the short- and long-term outcomes.

When it came to implementation challenges, all students identified at least one short-term challenge related to either the technical or contextual (economic, political, environmental, social, time, etc.) aspects of the scenario. However, many struggled to recognize the interactions between different constructs at a higher level of complexity and had difficulty considering long-term challenges. Similarly, regarding unintended consequences, most students could identify potential issues related to technical or contextual factors, but they often overlooked the interactions between these various aspects.

The findings demonstrate that while students can identify short-term challenges and potential unintended consequences in isolation, they may lack the deeper understanding necessary to recognize the complexity of interactions between different aspects of a system. This highlights the need for enhanced educational strategies that emphasize the importance of considering both the interconnectedness of system components and the potential long-term consequences of decisions. This study&#39;s results help create effective teaching strategies to foster systems thinking skills in engineering students.
AU - John Mendoza-Garcia
AU - Andrea Goncher-Sevilla
AU - Mengyu Li
CY - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DA - 2025/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Assessing Systems Thinking Skills in Engineering Education: Addressing Implementation Challenges and Unintended Consequences in Ill-structured Problems
UR - https://peer.asee.org/55473
DO - 10.18260/1-2--55473
ER -