Education

Education

At Cura Oceanus, we have one or two ideas about education.
First, we are working to establish the concept of Systems Thinking as a basis for addressing problems and assessing solutions for all the projects we are involved with. Following the tenets of Systems Thinking reduces the likelihood of solving the wrong problem, or even worse, making the situation worse than it was before the solution was attempted. Our chairman will be organizing Systems Thinking workshops with local INCOSE chapters to educate students, professionals and the interested public about Systems Thinking

Another idea we have is that Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education should be augmented with team-centric concepts and some out of the box thinking. People need to work together creatively and to learn to listen to team contributions with respect. Our concept of STEM education is called STEM-RI; STEM with Respect and Imagination. We encourage our student volunteers to present their ideas to the full team, and we then have a full discussion. Several very good ideas have been brought up by some very young contributors.
Imagination is key to solving problems that have stumped the world for years. If we try the same thing repeatedly, only increasing the amount of force we apply, the results are not likely to change. Imaginative and contra-paradigm thinking is the best way to go. Traditional education venues don’t always have time to exercise student imaginations, and professionals are not usually allowed to take risky leaps. At Cura Oceanus, we have the time to apply engineering rigor AFTER the ideas have been proposed, to validate the ideas instead of stifling them.