Problem Solving at the Edge of Disciplines

Abstract

This chapter outlines a new perspective on disciplinary collaboration that draws inspiration from ecology that observes that the edges where ecosystems meet tend to have greater biodiversity than the ecosystems themselves. This thinking is applied to a typical University Faculty consisting of three Schools to show that the potential for collaboration across disciplinary boundaries is rich. The chapter proposes a new degree structure that embeds problem solving skills as core to the production of “pi-shaped” people, defined as those that have disciplinary depth in two areas and the ability to work outside of their core area. In this regard, problem solving is consider an area where a student can achieve depth of knowledge. The degree is designed such that it produces an exchange of students across disciplinary boundaries and also structured so that it takes students on a journey through different models of disciplinary collaboration. The degree is seen as a key enabled of achieving so called “Mode 2” knowledge production.

The effectiveness of physical office environments for employee outcomes

“…Therefore, the third research question of this paper asked which disciplines could work together in interdisciplinary research to fill the existing research gaps. “It has been observed that the most interesting ideas emerge on the boundaries between disciplines” (Connor et al , 2016, p. 2).…”

Social-venture planning: liberal arts programme to enhance undergraduates’ creative problem-solving competency / La planificación de emprendimiento social: un programa de artes liberales para fomentar las competencias de resolución creativa de problemas de los estudiantes universitarios

“…It is also associated with the ability to tackle real-world challenges that arise from intricate societal systems (Zhou, 2017). Thus, one of the primary objectives of higher education should be to cultivate persons with interdisciplinary skills who can find problems and make solutions based on information acquired from several disciplines (Connor et al, 2017).…”

“…También está vinculada con la capacidad de abordar y gestionar problemas reales que surgen en sistemas sociales complejos (Zhou, 2017). Por tanto, uno de los objetivos principales de la educación universitaria debería ser equipar a estudiantes con habilidades interdisciplinares para que puedan identificar problemas y encontrar soluciones basadas en información adquirida en distintas disciplinas (Connor et al, 2017).…”