A Study on Applications of Systems Engineering to Holistic Didactics

Abstract

The most complete theoretical framework of systems thinking is Systems Inquiry that comprises three domains of study, those of Systems Philosophy, Theory and Methodology. The last domain explores principles, methods, models, techniques and tools for the study of systems, which can be either natural or artificial ones (alias, social or human activity systems). Systems Methodology is directly related to Systems Applications, the discipline that study how the methodologies can be applied to the understanding of already existing systems, both natural and artificial ones. The branch of Systems Applications that focuses directly on the construction of artificial systems, through the utilization of the relevant models and techniques to various problems, is Systems Engineering. In this work, didactics is perceived as an artificial system that realizes teaching and learning activities in a holistic manner, namely, it includes didactic practices about any subject, at any level, with any methodology and for any human or automated machine. Teaching is a planned activity according to a set of guidelines that, depending on the scale, have the form of a curriculum or a syllabus. The objective of this study is to demonstrate, through a variety of educational applications, that Systems Engineering may facilitate the construction of didactic plans in a holistic manner, by utilizing the particular technique of “Organizational Method for Analyzing Systems”, which originates from the relevant techniques of Information Systems.