Tags:

transdisciplinary interdisciplinary

Description:

(to be completed) This wonderful major aims to educate Engineers to not only good at solving engineering problems, but also other problems of the world.

(this is only a draft and will be updated soon)

What is Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering (TSE) education?

Transdisciplinary science and engineering is a way of study where researchers go beyond the boundaries of academic fields to solve the complex problems shared by global society as a whole.

Students acquire practical skills — not simply academic knowledge. Specifically, our goal is to train individuals as global scientists and engineers with the following abilities: ability to contribute to the innovation of novel technology, values, and concepts needed by society (ability to define and solve problems, creative thinking and the ability to carry out projects); to communicate with engineers in other fields with a global perspective and co-create; and to manage complex and large-scale projects and organizations.

-- Vision of the TSE department

What is good about Transdisciplinary Education?

According to ChatGPT

" Transdisciplinary education refers to an educational approach that integrates knowledge, methods, and perspectives from multiple disciplines to address complex real-world problems. Here are some reasons why transdisciplinary education is valuable:

1. Addressing complex problems: Many of the challenges we face today, such as climate change, poverty, and healthcare disparities, are multifaceted and interconnected. Transdisciplinary education enables students to develop a holistic understanding of these problems by exploring various disciplines and their interactions. It encourages critical thinking, creativity, and the ability to develop innovative solutions.
2. Fostering collaboration and communication: Transdisciplinary education emphasizes collaboration among individuals with diverse backgrounds and expertise. It promotes effective communication, teamwork, and the ability to work across disciplinary boundaries. These skills are essential in today's interconnected world, where complex problems require collaborative approaches.
3. Enhancing adaptability and versatility: Traditional education often focuses on specialized knowledge within specific disciplines. However, the world is rapidly changing, and new challenges often require a combination of knowledge and skills from multiple fields. Transdisciplinary education equips students with a broader skill set, allowing them to adapt to evolving circumstances, navigate interdisciplinary contexts, and embrace lifelong learning.
4. Encouraging critical thinking and problem-solving: Transdisciplinary education encourages students to think critically, question assumptions, and explore different perspectives. It cultivates a deeper understanding of complex issues by integrating knowledge from various disciplines, allowing students to develop innovative solutions to real-world problems.
5. Promoting a holistic worldview: By integrating knowledge from different disciplines, transdisciplinary education helps students develop a holistic worldview. They gain an appreciation for the interconnectedness of various systems, recognize the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of problems, and develop a broader understanding of the world and its complexities.
6. Bridging academia and society: Transdisciplinary education bridges the gap between academic knowledge and real-world application. It prepares students to engage with societal challenges and work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders, such as policymakers, community members, and industry professionals. This engagement facilitates the transfer of knowledge and solutions from academia to society.
7. Stimulating innovation and creativity: By combining diverse perspectives and knowledge domains, transdisciplinary education stimulates innovation and creativity. It encourages students to think outside the box, explore unconventional ideas, and develop novel approaches to problem-solving.

In summary, transdisciplinary education is essential because it equips students with the skills, knowledge, and mindset required to address complex real-world problems, promotes collaboration and adaptability, enhances critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, and fosters a holistic worldview. It prepares individuals to become effective agents of change in an interconnected and rapidly changing world."

Uhm, okay, ChatGPT's answer sounds good, I guess. But the answer is way too theoretical, therefore let's ask an expert on this topic.

According to David Epstein in his book "Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World".

Specialization is not always good at solving problems

According to Epstein, there are two types of problem in this world: Kind problems and wicked problems. Kind problems involve certain environment, specific challenges, rigid rules, and are unchanging. Meanwhile, wicked problems involve uncertain environments, ill-defined challenges, few-to-nonexistence rules, and are rapidly changing.

Epstein argued that when we face kind problems, narrow and deep specialization can be remarkably efficient, but that is not the case for wicked problems.

“They (the specialists) were perfectly capable of learning from experience, but failed at learning without experience. And that is what a rapidly changing, wicked world demands—conceptual reasoning skills that can connect new ideas and work across contexts. Faced with any problem they had not directly experienced before, the remote villagers were completely lost. That is not an option for us. The more constrained and repetitive a challenge, the more likely it will be automated, while great rewards will accrue to those who can take conceptual knowledge from one problem or domain and apply it in an entirely new one.”

-- David Epstein

The need of generalists in a hyper-specialized world.

“Eminent physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson styled it this way: we need both focused frogs and visionary birds. ‘Birds fly high in the air and survey broad vistas of mathematics out to the far horizon,’ Dyson wrote in 2009. ‘They delight in concepts that unify our thinking and bring together diverse problems from different parts of the landscape. Frogs live in the mud below and see only the flowers that grow nearby. They delight in the details of particular objects, and they solve problems one at a time.’ As a mathematician, Dyson labeled himself a frog, but contended, ‘It is stupid to claim that birds are better than frogs because they see farther, or that frogs are better than birds because they see deeper.’ The world, he wrote, is both broad and deep. ‘We need birds and frogs working together to explore it.’ Dyson’s concern was that science is increasingly overflowing with frogs, trained only in a narrow specialty and unable to change as science itself does. ‘This is a hazardous situation,’ he warned, ‘for the young people and also for the future of science.'”

-- David Epstein

“Beneath complexity, hedgehogs tend to see simple, deterministic rules of cause and effect framed by their area of expertise, like repeating patterns on a chessboard. Foxes see complexity in what others mistake for simple cause and effect. They understand that most cause-and-effect relationships are probabilistic, not deterministic. There are unknowns, and luck, and even when history apparently repeats, it does not do so precisely. They recognize that they are operating in the very definition of a wicked learning environment, where it can be very hard to learn, from either wins or losses.”

-- David Epstein

"Transdisciplinary" is important for innovation.

“The successful adapters were excellent at taking knowledge from one pursuit and applying it creatively to another, and at avoiding cognitive entrenchment. They employed what Hogarth called a ‘circuit breaker.’ They drew on outside experiences and analogies to interrupt their inclination toward a previous solution that may no longer work. Their skill was in avoiding the same old patterns."

“Breadth of training predicts breadth of transfer. That is, the more contexts in which something is learned, the more the learner creates abstract models, and the less they rely on any particular example. Learners become better at applying their knowledge to a situation they’ve never seen before, which is the essence of creativity."

"Knowledge with enduring utility must be very flexible, composed of mental schemes that can be matched to new problems."

-- David Epstein

Overall, the book challenges the prevailing notion that specialization is the key to success and instead emphasizes the benefits of having a broad range of knowledge and skills. Epstein presents compelling evidence from various fields to support his argument, highlighting how individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences often outperform specialists when faced with complex problems. He emphasizes the importance of learning from different domains, developing a wide range of interests, and cultivating a flexible mindset.

According to Epstein, we need both the specialists and generalists in this world, but we often too focused in educating the specialists but forget the generalists, and that must be changed. That is exactly the aims of my TSE major.

According to myself

As a student already spending 4 years in the TSE department, I would confidently say that I love the concept and vision of the department. Below are the things that I am glad that I was able to learn from my experience there:

Logical and Analytical thinking

(Will be updated soon)

Be willing to solve problems, but don't try to solve problems that doesn't exist

(Will be updated soon)

Have a growth mindset, and think "transdisciplinarily"

(Will be updated soon)