Different Teaching Approaches and Use of Active Learning Strategies as Tools for Inter- and Transdisciplinary Education

Abstract

This work reports a review on some of the ways in which education and research can be used to solve today’s complex problems by taking into account teaching and learning strategies that go beyond traditional teaching strategies. It revisits different teaching approaches and connects them directly to uni-, pluri-, multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary attitudes, and how educational professionals think of the subject of teaching. This discussion reflects on how teachers tend to reproduce procedures they observed in their own graduation programs and why experienced teachers opt for inter- and transdisciplinary attitudes. Using a qualitative approach, this work illustrates the results from a Project-Based Learning strategy applied to a group of Major Engineering students to solve problems at the University’s Campus. Participants included 25 students engaged to Physics Engineering program supervised by different faculty members, experienced undergraduate and graduate students, and technicians, who had mentored the undergraduate students’ teams, all working in subjects closely related to the projects. The products developed by the teams show evidence that the students were motivated and engaged in the projects; this supports the premise that inter- and transdisciplinary approaches drive collaboration in the execution of projects, develop soft skills and permit knowledge development in an articulate and complex way thereby leading to a broader education of the students.