Exercise on Transdisciplinarity: Lessons from a Field-Based Course on Rural Sustainability in an Aging Society

Abstract

Sustainability science emerged as a new academic field to address complex sustainability challenges. To train sustainability experts, sustainability science programs and sustainability-focused courses are offered in higher education, especially at the graduate level. Given the diverse topics and the complex structures of sustainability challenges, what are the required knowledge and skills needed for sustainability experts? Although the earlier literature identified key features and competencies, empirical studies on how educational programs in sustainability science provide the necessary training are still scarce. This study addresses this gap by illustrating how a field-based course can contribute in developing core skills for fostering sustainability experts through a case study of field-based course called Global Field Exercise (GFE) in the Graduate Program in Sustainability Science-Global Leadership Initiative (GPSS-GLI) at The University of Tokyo. Literature review on the competencies in sustainability science suggests a three-way typology of descriptive-analytical skills, solution-oriented skills, and attitudinal skills. A group of students joined a GFE unit in Akita, Japan, and set "local food and place attachment" as the topic for their fieldwork. The participants conducted semi-structured interviews to three generational groups to illustrate the different perceptions of local food and places. The alternative mechanism of knowledge transmission across generations by local festivals and school events was found. The authors observed the implemented field-based course provided unique learning opportunities to acquire: (i) the ability to perform key competencies collectively instead of individually; (ii) an interdisciplinary-mindset to acknowledge multiple views to topics during group discussions among researchers; (iii) a transdisciplinary-mindset to communicate research outputs with local residents in a communicable way; (iv) the ability to be empathetic to people's experiences when addressing normative dimensions of sustainability. Although different sets of competencies and approaches for fostering sustainability experts have been studied widely, the field-based approach plays an important role in developing transdisciplinary, interpersonal, and normative competences.

Integration of Humanities and Professional Disciplines as a Factor of the Development of Students’ Creative Potential in a Technical University

“…The activation of students' learning process is promoted by the providing of cognitive tasks on interdisciplinary nature, what stimulates creativity, develops cognitive activity, forms systemic thinking and further help to solve non-standard issues in different areas of professional and social practice [11]. Learning effectiveness on the basis of interdisciplinary connections is usually achieved by innovative activity in its goals, content, forms of organization of the educational process, by developing students' self-organization, forecasting and modeling skills.…”

Key experiences for the transdisciplinary approach: fieldwork-based training in sustainability science education

“…Realistically, each stakeholder group has different interests, and they barely find common grounds spontaneously just by sitting together. There must be a facilitator who has the ability to be empathetic and accommodate each stakeholder’s point of view (Kudo et al , 2018). To train researchers with such facilitation skills for transdisciplinary approaches, sustainability-focused educational programs in higher education must offer a designed learning space where students can experience the actual co-production of socially robust knowledge.…”

Fieldwork Studies in Rural Areas: Growth of Students in an Urban University in Japan

“…Nakayama and Matsumura [18] reported that students improved their fundamental competencies as professionals after experiencing FW in rural areas. Moreover, Kudo et al [19] found that communicating with students from different countries and diverse disciplines who are working on the same theme promotes independence, cooperation, and indepth understanding of their field of study. In addition, FW enables students to gain a sense of responsibility as members of the community.…”