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Abstract:
Dr. Lavi will discuss his approach to designing, implementing and evaluating pedagogical frameworks for fostering and assessing systems thinking in higher engineering education. His talk will focus on the Systems Thinking Assessment Rubric (STAR), first developed during his doctoral studies, and the System Architecture-Function-Outcome (SAFO) framework. first developed as Lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Lavi co-created STAR and SAFO with scholars of systems engineering, of engineering education, and of science education, from various institutions across multiple continents. Dr. Lavi will outline his methodologies in developing STAR and SAFO, and how findings of empirical studies with STAR informed the design of the SAFO framework. He will provide examples from classroom projects and peer-reviewed studies. Finally, he will discuss future directions with teaching systems thinking in engineering higher education, including the integration of generative artificial intelligence applications into the design of learning assignments and assessments.

Bio:
Rea Lavi earned his doctoral degree in science & engineering education from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, in 2019. In 2019, Dr. Lavi joined the New Engineering Education Transformation program at the School of Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. As of 2023, he is also Digital Education Lecturer and Curriculum Designer with the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics in the same school. His work has been published in IEEE Transactions on Education, Journal of Science Education and Technology, and Studies in Educational Evaluation, among other peer-reviewed journals. His research interests include active learning, generative AI in teaching & learning, problem structuring, systems thinking, and creative ideation, with specific focus on undergraduate education. Dr. Lavi received several awards for his doctoral research, including but not limited to the Zeff Fellowship for Excelling First-year Doctoral Students and the Miriam and Aaron Gutwirth Fellowship for Excelling Doctoral students. During his time at MIT, he obtained grants from the MIT J-WEL Education Innovation grant fund, the Alumni Class Funds, and the d’Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in Education.

Citations:
Lavi, R., Dori, Y. J., Wengrowicz, N., & Dori, D. (2019). Model-based systems thinking: Assessing engineering student teams. IEEE Transactions on Education, 63(1), 39-47. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8895791/.

Lavi, R., & Brogaard Bertel, L. (2024). The System Architecture-Function-Outcome framework for fostering and assessing systems thinking in first-year STEM education and Its potential applications in case-based learning. Education Sciences, 14(7), 720. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/7/720.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (August, 2024). Session 4: Systems Thinking in Climate and Sustainability Systems. In SP.248 Fall 2023 NEET Ways of Thinking. OpenCoureWare. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sp-248-neet-ways-of-thinking-fall-2023/

Grants:
SIDAI – State, Ideate, and Design with Artificial Intelligence. Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) Education Innovation Grant (06/2024 – 05/2025). PI: R. Lavi.

First-year class: Applying systems and creative thinking to complex challenges in climate and sustainability. d’Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in Education (07/2021 – 06/2022). PI: L. Breslow. Co-Investigator: R. Lavi.

First-year class: Novelty and model-based systems thinking as expressed in solutions to design problems. Gordon Center for System Engineering Research Fellowship (06/2018 – 05/2019). PI: Y. J. Dori. Doctoral fellow: R. Lavi.

First-year class: Systems thinking – analyzing interdisciplinary problems in science and engineering education. Gordon Center for System Engineering Research Fellowship (06/2016 – 05/2017). PI: Y. J. Dori. Doctoral fellow: R. Lavi.