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Rea Lavi, PhD

MIT Lecturer | Technion PhD | Contact me

Teaching Creative Problem-Solving

Systems thinking | Problem structuring | Creative ideation​

I love to help people solve problems. I help instructors teach and students learn how to address complex problems. I research, develop, teach and apply frameworks, methods, and tools for problem-based learning, problem structuring, systems thinking, and creative ideation. With over a decade of experience, I draw insights from the learning sciences, systems engineering, and my prior startup experience.​

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Sid AI Platform for Problem-Based Learning​

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Funded by an Education Innovation grant from MIT and developed by TamerinTech, Sid AI enables instructors of any experience level to manage students' problem-based learning (PBL) process, following a robust methodology rooted in sound pedagogical principles, 'Structure, Ideate, Develop' (SID).​​​

 

Using the Sid AI platform, the SID methodology helps to foster students' skills for problem structuring and solving, systems thinking, metacognition, and collaboration.​​ Instructors and students are helped by the chatbot Sid, a virtual teaching assistant designed to help with assessing student work and creative brainstorming. 

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You can access the Sid AI login page here (registration by invite only).

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Below is a screenshot of a project workspace in Sid AI.

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Structure and Ideate are based on my own work, while Develop is based on the work of Prof. Senay Purzer from Purdue University's School of Engineering Education. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Sid AI and the SID methodology are also suitable for structuring and addressing complex problems in organizations.

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To learn more about the SID methodology and the Sid AI platform, and to request a free trial:​​

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SAFO Pedagogical Framework for Introductory Systems Thinking

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SAFO, or System Architecture-Function-Outcome, is A transdisciplinary engineering education framework for teaching and assessing systems thinking at a novice (first-year education) level. It covers introductory systems thinking for describing and prescribing artificial systems across three aspects, including their intra- and inter-relations:

 

  • Architecture, what the system is - structure and behavior (interactions between parts).

  • Function, what the system architecture does - boundary systems with input/s and output/s.

  • Outcome, how the system function affects people - stakeholders, problem, benefit/s, and detriment/s​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

SAF diagram
SAFO template

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​SAFO in included in the SID methodology, within the 'Ideate" stage's final step, 'Transcend', where the selected refined solution is described as a system.

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Peer-reviewed publications involving the SAFO framework:

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MIT OpenCourseWare Resources

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SP.248 NEET Ways of Thinking (fall 2023 materials)

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This course gives first-year students a unique opportunity to explore the New Engineering Education Transformation (NEET) program while acquiring valuable problem-solving skills. It introduces students to the NEET Ways of Thinking, which are cognitive approaches for tackling complex challenges valued by industry and for thriving in an uncertain and rapidly changing world. Student teams engage in challenge-based learning in interdisciplinary engineering education.
 

Defining Real-World Problems With the DIS Method

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This self-paced module introduces the DIS method for structuring (defining) real-world problems. DIS stands for 'Describe, Inquire, State' and is domain-agnostic. This method is a simplified version of the 'Structure' stage in the SID methodology.

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Select Peer-Reviewed Publications

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