Exploring Transdisciplinarity in Engineering Education and Practice: A Review of Literature and Existing Initiatives

Abstract

This paper is situated in the recent interest within engineering education communities in adopting transdisciplinary practices as well as the evolving scholarship and discussions on transdisciplinarity (TD) in broader contexts over the past few decades. We first introduce a historical overview of the discussions and scholarly work on TD, from which we identify some features of a transdisciplinary orientation. Further, we examine the website information of nine TD-explicit initiatives and seven cross-disciplinary initiatives in postsecondary settings across the world—in light of two general approaches to TD (the Nicolescuian approach and the Zurich approach) and the identified TD-oriented features. Our reviews exhibit the commonalities and differences between transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary initiatives, and a notable divide between TD-related theories and practices. Our findings also reveal opportunities and challenges in pursuing transdisciplinary activities in engineering education and practice. We call for a fundamental conceptual change to enable a real transformation toward transdisciplinarity.