The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new, theoretically-based scale that would assess students' learning about systems thinking in relation to the affective domain in systems engineering education. Students' learning of systems thinking in the affective domain deal with emotions, feelings and valuing the related cognitive systems thinking aspects. It is characterized by belief in the power of systems thinking to enable them to develop superior engineered products and systems. This paper describes the psychometric properties of the scale as the basis for future use with a target population of engineering students. It provides the results of an instrument test analysis of data collected from a representative set of the target audience of the instrument. The participants in this study were 180 undergraduate engineering students who enrolled in a systems engineering course. Exploratory factor analysis of the scale for the sample yielded factors largely consistent with conceptualization and construction of the subscales. Confirmatory factor analysis of the scale also supports the initial factor structure. The results suggest that this instrument may be useful to researchers and practitioners interested in measuring systems thinking in engineering students, particularly in the affective domain.

Systems thinking (ST) offers a holistic approach rather than a reductionist approach, through appreciating all the interrelated dimensions of complex problems. It is important for understanding and interacting with all kinds of systems, in order to manage complex problems. However, the broad range of the ST‐related literature found in various disciplines, generates a great deal of disagreement about definitions and understanding of systems thinking. Despite the current ambiguities of ST definitions, its underlying philosophy has a long history. This paper aims to clarify what ST is in the modern day and why it is defined in so many different ways. It identifies a number of interpretations of systems thinking with the purpose of clarifying what it is and why it is variously understood. The main aims of this paper is to propose a new ST construct, and to define its role in the practice of Systems Engineering (SE). This paper then draws implications of the new ST construct for SE education.

This paper presents a measure of resilience, which can guide system design and management. Systems design must incorporate resilience to provide stakeholders with the most appropriate solution for their lifecycle needs. Design of resilient systems demands a measure of the resilience afforded by a system proposal which can be used to compare design proposals. The measurement method should balance the interest in resilience with all other proposal evaluation criteria, and incorporate the effect of the sequence of unknown future events affecting the system. Ideally, the resilience measure should also be useful to guide management decisions for re-maintenance or upgrade during the system life. This paper presents a method to measure system resilience which can be applied to engineered systems in general, not just a specific class of systems, is threat type agnostic, and does not presuppose any “desirable” outcome allowing a system-specific determination of “desirable” outcomes.