This is the original printing of a manuscript known by several titles. It was initially printed under the copyright title: "SYSTEMS ENGINEER ING OF LEARNING - PUBLIC EDUCATION K-12: AN ANALYSIS" in 1965.
The research represented by this manuscript was begun by the author under the sponsorship of Education and Training Consultants Co., of Los Angeles, in February 1964 although much of the material had been gathered and examined many years earlier. It was commissioned as a manuscript for publication by the Instructional Technology and Media Project, in the Department of Instructional Technology, University of Southern California, by Dr. James D. Finn on 9 September 1964. The plan was to prepare "...a paper on systems concepts in education with particular reference to instructional systems. .."
It was to be published by the Instructional Technology and Media Pro ject as a monograph with relatively limited distribution. It would be a decision of the U.S. Office of Education to give the monograph wider distribution. It was to be a joint effort of L.C. Silvern and R. Heinich. It became known to the authors as "Systems Engineering
of Learning-Public Education K-12: An Analysis.". The manuscript forming this publication constituted about 110 pages of the first part of the entire manuscript. Approximately 35 pages were authored by R. Heinich and his material is not included in this publication. In May 1965, the Project announced that the monograph would be published as two separate and distinct monographs. The first part was to be identified as "STUDIES IN THE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING OF EDUCATION I: THE EVOLUTION OF SYSTEMS THINKING IN EDUCATION," and the author was Dr. Silvern.
The second part was to be known as "STUDIES IN THE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING OF EDUCATION II: APPLICATION OF SYSTEMS THINKING TO INSTRUCTION." Dr. Finn, in reconstituting the project, stated that "...papers number three and four will be more technical and will end up, we hope, with a new model (perhaps mathematical) of this process..." The second part, by Mr. Heinich, was written independently and is the
sole work of the author but it follows sequentially and lopically from this part which was authored by Dr. Silvern. Mr. Heinich's monograph, "THE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING OF EDUCATION II: APPLICATION OF SYSTEMS THINK ING TO INSTRUCTION," was published as document 20H4-l by the School of Education, University of Southern California, in 1966 with a date of 1965.
Several efforts to publish the first monograph written by Dr. Silvern, by the University of Southern California, were aborted. For a long time, the only edition was the first limited printing by Education and Training Consultants Co. On 16 February 1967, it was announced that the monograph would be published under auspices of the Frank N. Magill Publication Fund in the Department of Instructional Tech nology. Regrettably, this did not materialize although considerable effort was expended by University personnel to prepare early drafts and graphics.
(this explanation is continued in the Abstract section of The Evolution of Systems Thinking in Education - 1968)
