6) or technical answers that can be easily transferable between different contexts. Insights are important for addressing the complex problems in transdisciplinary research and learning, because they cannot be effectively addressed by “reproductive solutions” (Weisberg, 2014, p. This paper argues that what enables effective engagement with this complexity is “insight discovery”, defined as the ability and willingness to identify and overturn one’s own assumptions by assimilating new experiences and knowledge. The solution or the means by which to arrive at a solution to the problem is therefore also open-ended (Rittel and Webber, 1973 Dörner and Funke, 2017 Alford and Head, 2017). A common characteristic of this type of problem is that its definition depends on the perspective of the individual confronting the problem. What are the necessary competences to tackle the challenges related to sustainable development, climate change, social unrest and other societal dilemmas? Authors have referred to such problems as “wicked” (Rittel and Webber, 1973), “complex” or “ill-defined” (Dörner, 1996). There is a potential for incorporating such process as a fundamental competence for transdisciplinary curricula in undergraduate and graduate programmes by cultivating specific practices and safe learning environments, focused on the enquiry, exchange and integration of diverse perspectives. Within a group setting, a person begins with an “original mental model”, experiences an “insight trigger”, processes new information within the “liminal space”, “formulates an insight” and eventually forms an “adapted mental model”. The process which we describe, named the insight discovery process (IDP), is made up of five aspects. Based on experiences and empirical observations within the scope of an educational programme for Masters students, PhD candidates and post-doctoral researchers, we suggest that insights are the outcome of a learning process influenced by the collective and environment in which they are conceived, rather than instant moments of individual brilliance. The capacity for “insight discovery” means becoming aware of personal mental representations of the world and being able to shape and integrate perspectives different from one’s own. To address complex societal and environmental problems facing the world today, a particular expertise that can identify new connections between diverse knowledge fields is needed in order to integrate diverse perspectives from a wide range of stakeholders and develop novel solutions. In this paper, we develop and apply the concept of ‘insight discovery’ as a key competence for transdisciplinary research and learning.
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