Addressing Wicked Problems: Epistemic Positioning in the Interdisciplinary Design Studio

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Fourteen
  In Roundtable Session: Complexity Theories Roundtable (Table 11)

Abstract

With rapid environmental and social change (e.g., climate change, pandemic viruses, collapse of ecosystems), the pressure to connect the sciences to the humanities in higher education has been argued to both contextualize scientific content and to offer students real life skills for addressing “wicked problems.” This qualitative study examined the interactions and teaching practices in an interdisciplinary design studio that brought together scientists and graduate students from biology and human geography. Through mapping epistemic positioning in the design crits, we argue for the design studio’s potential to connect scholars from divergent disciplines to develop new knowledge to use productive tensions toward interdisciplinary understanding.

Author

• Carol B. Brandt, Temple University
  Presenting Author