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Design and Improve Systems

Developed by Melinda Stanley

"The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order."

-Alfred North Whitehead, British philosopher

 

Complete three of the seven following activities:

Systems exist all around us. We often don’t recognize them: our traffic system, the water system, a political system, the numerical system, our monetary system, and workplace systems. Systems are everything that has inputs and outputs. Systems thinking is a way of looking at these occurrences as a whole. It is a way of looking at problems in their complete environment. It is important to see that there is a relationship within the parts. Rather than isolating one part of a problem, we must learn to try and solve it as part of the system and then place it back into the system.

  1. Select the system of your choice and develop a flow chart to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the working parts. Students should be sure to include all sub-systems. Now, using a second flowchart, illustrate how you would improve the system. Be sure to include a flowchart of the original system and a listing of any applicable vocabulary. Use the Skills at Work Understanding Systems book on file in the Career Connection office for more information on Systems or visit the following website for information on flowcharts: What is a flowchart? http://www.dipoli.hut.fi/org/TechNet/org/eurocinet/tool4.html

    2. How do you make a flowchart? http://theweb.badm.sc.edu/sealand/flowchart.htm

  2. To demonstrate knowledge of the economic system, document your eight-week participation in The Stock Market Game. Go to www.smg2000.org and register to participate. Provide copies of your participation in the game.
  3. Go to your local public library and read "The Japanese Success Story: Toyota Auto Body", by P.C. Thompson, Understanding Quality Circles. Apply the knowledge from this reading to the system of your choice. How can you improve this system as a result of what you have read?
  4. Using the Internet, Media Center, or CD-ROM resources, research the development of cameras from the days of daguerreotype to the digitized images of today. Analyze how improvements in the camera’s feedback phase (light meters, viewfinders, and so on) have improved the camera’s output (photographs) from the camera’s earliest days. Write a report with a time line that shows the major advances.

    5. Cannon Camera Museum http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/

    Pinhole Camera History http://www.mta.link75.org/pinhole/

    Daguerreotype Camera Society http://www.daguerre.org/

    The History of Photography http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/

  5. Select the system of your choice and investigate its workings. Research the development of that system. Analyze how improvements in the system have created product improvements. Write a report with a time line that shows the major advances.
  6. Design an improved Department of Education for Volusia County Schools. Use a flowchart to illustrate your improved system (refer to the website listed in #1 for more info on flowcharts). Be sure to include all levels, from the superintendent to school janitors. For more information on the organization of our school district, visit http://www.volusia.k12.fl.us.
  7. Learn the Apollo 13 story by reading a book, listening to a book on tape, or watching the movie based on the mission. Identify four or more systems mentioned in the story, and briefly describe each one. Identify the four phases (input, process, output and feedback) in each system. Choose one of the systems and identify how, over time, the system was improved and in which phase the improvement was made. Prepare a report to present your findings.

NASA History http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html

NASA information http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo13info.html

Additional NASA information http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13-info.html