A transdisciplinary experience among mathematics, physics and data visualization

Abstract

Transdiciplinarity is one of the main pillars in Higher Education since it allows to connect knowledge of different disciplines by working in a common project. On the other hand, Challenge Based Learning (CBL) is well known as a useful methodology to provide close to real environments to develop projects along which specific and generic competences. In this way, the present contribution was designed based on these two concepts. It deals with the implementation of CBL within the framework of a transdisciplinary approach in the STEM area. The aim was to foster transdisciplinarity and collaborative working among students of different courses and degrees. Moreover, development of transversal and professional competences was also pursued.

The experience was performed during the second semester of the academic year 2022/2023. Three professors, 21 students of 1st year of Physics Degree and 14 students of 3rd year of Data Science participated in the project. Moreover, three courses were involved: Linear Algebra, Basic Experimental Techniques and Data Visualization. Students worked in groups to develop this challenge, in such a way that each group had to design two scientific posters. One should be based on literature review of a specific mathematical topic of their choice, while the other should be based on a physical experiment carried out in the laboratory.

Regarding methodology, 1st year students were arranged in groups of 3, so that each group was assigned a 3rd year “mentor”. Thus, the background of the students was different, so was their expertise. While 1st year students of Physics provided the mathematical knowledge, students of 3rd year of Data Science were proficient in data visualization. Therefore, once the topic was set, the mentors guided their teams to properly present the information in poster format. Besides, each poster should include a QR code providing extra information about the topic: videos, papers, blogs, own authorship websites, etc… Finally, each poster was presented, either via screencast or onsite in the classroom. Specific rubrics were used to evaluate this activity, which contributed the final score of the students.

During the work sessions, students met altogether in the “Project Room”. Here, they arranged in groups, so that they could exchange ideas, establish a work plan and contribute to achieve a common purpose. Ones learned about Physics and Mathematics, while the others learnt about Data Visualization. Professors, by observing students’ performance, could confirm that several core and transversal competences were reinforced thanks to this experience: fostering scientific research, teamwork, transdisciplinarity, time management, autonomous work and oral communication, among others.

To sum up, the good indicators obtained in a previous experience encouraged the authors to implement this activity in the present course with a transdisciplinary perspective. Results have shown that this combination (CBL + transdisciplinarity), bring magnificent learning opportunities to students.