Complexity, interdisciplinarity and design literacy

Tore Andre Ringvold,Liv Merete Nielsen

doi:10.7577/formakademisk.4640

Abstract

In today’s complex world, a variety of perspectives are needed to better understand and solve challenges. For decades, global organisations and researchers have pointed to interdisciplinarity as a way forward for educational systems. Educational research offers great possibilities and gains for students involved in interdisciplinary teaching and learning processes, and the interdisciplinary nature of design thinking and practice can play a vital role in interdisciplinary general education. This paper explores how future scenario-building, as part of general design education, can serve as a framework for inter-disciplinarity in general education and contribute to a better understanding of complex problems, challenges and design literacy.

Highlights

With the world and societies changing rapidly, educational systems are challenged to make future citizens capable of solving increasingly complex problems and to teach them to create new opportuneities for themselves and fellow citizens
In a report on interdisciplinarity, UNESCO stated: From an educational point of view, teaching that is divided into separate disciplines runs counter to the pupil’s natural approach to the exploration of his environment, and it provides less incentive for the pupil unless he takes a particular interest in this or that subject. (UNESCO, 1986, p. 16)
Learning for an unknown future demands an ontological shift in education, as today’s pedagogy does not address the ‘supercomplexity’ of reality (Barnett, 2012)

Summary

Introduction

With the world and societies changing rapidly, educational systems are challenged to make future citizens capable of solving increasingly complex problems and to teach them to create new opportuneities for themselves and fellow citizens. The demand for interdisciplinarity In the 20th century, education in Europe developed and transformed from a strictly divided disciplinary school system far removed from how individual selves experience the world and its complexity towards a learning ideal promoting a more holistic interdisciplinary explorative approach. In a report on interdisciplinarity, UNESCO stated: From an educational point of view, teaching that is divided into separate disciplines runs counter to the pupil’s natural approach to the exploration of his environment, and it provides less incentive for the pupil unless he takes a particular interest in this or that subject.

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Conclusion