Enhancing systems thinking skills of sophomore students: An introductory project in electrical engineering

A course entitled 'Introductory Project in Electrical Engineering' was developed and implemented at the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The course was designed to expose students in the third semester of their studies to the discipline of electrical engineering and enhance their systems thinking skills. The major component of the course was a team-based design project of a window cleaning robot. The present study, which used quantitative instruments alongside qualitative ones, reveals significant improvement of systems thinking skills among the students who took the course.