One hundred years ago, Paul Weiss and Ludwig von Bertalanffy independently proposed that living organisms interact with their environment through systems. In the century that has followed, systems thinking and modeling have grown in tandem with discovery of the vast complexity of the universe at microscopic through astronomic levels. As our…

There is a mismatch between established practice in Learning Design and the increasingly complex nature of the challenges the world is facing. This article connects Learning Design to complexity science so learners can be better equipped to create a thriving future. Learning Design methods have traditionally leant heavily upon the reduction of…

The emerging field of social entrepreneurship seeks to address social challenges in environments where traditional public sector institutions are weak or absent. With its explicit focus on solving problems, social entrepreneurship is inherently interdisciplinary. A well-designed undergraduate course in social entrepreneurship can enhance…

In summer 2020, Northeastern University developed a fully online curricular pathway for incoming fall first-year undergraduate students who could not learn in residence. This pathway included 18 Global Challenge (GC) courses, each designed around project-based learning (PBL), grounded in a complex problem defined by Northeastern University…

Educational providers frequently respond to learning disruptions encountered by refugees, internally displaced persons, and migrant communities through online platforms. Learning modules in these digital spaces are often remotely designed, prescriptive and lack full appreciation of challenging circumstances faced by teachers and learners. To…

There is a growing interest in cross-disciplinary education aimed at instilling an open mindset in students in order to help them navigate complex societal issues. Since this requires commitment to learning, self-reflection, and venturing out of the "known," it is essential to understand student motivation for this type of learning that…

This study aims to develop an SSI-based electronic learning material [e-LM] that will respond to the current educational landscape. Socio-scientific issues are utilized in the e-LM recognizing it can be useful in resolving societal issues and assisting learners in developing scientific habits of mind. A Mixed-method research design was employed in…

Integrating science education with social justice is vital for preparing students to critically address significant societal issues like climate change and pandemics. This study examines the effectiveness of socioscientific system modeling as a tool within Justice-Centered Science Pedagogy (JCSP) to enhance middle school students' understanding of…

In recent years, young people engaged in political discourse and civic action online. U.S.-based social movements centered on equity issues, such as Black Lives Matter, Dreamers, and March for Our Lives, engaged young people in shaping and publicizing the goals of these movements through digital platforms. Increasingly in communities at the…

Deliberation as a necessary attitude in contemporary life seems to be specifically rooted in the early stages of education. However, as a primarily moral and evaluative stance, it is a powerful tool for shaping more reflective, critical, and proactive citizens. Furthermore, it establishes a way of engaging with knowledge, others, and, above all,…

With the challenges of a global pandemic, political and social unrest, and the consequences these issues bring, there is a universal call for empathy as we attempt to maneuver through this tumultuous time. For instructional designers, this includes employing empathy and empathic design as they grapple with how to design instructional interventions…

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are drivers of social change embedded in a society which is experiencing increasingly complex and multifaceted crises. This is partly attributable to the use of conventional and deterministic problem-solving curricula. A combination of a transdisciplinary approach and indigenous knowledge (IK) as transformative…

This paper reports a study coauthored with second-year undergraduate students that examines student experiences of undertaking real-life, client-set marketing assessments with an equality and inclusion remit. Students were set a marketing assessment with an explicit social justice focus, thereby prompting them to reflect on their own backgrounds…

A team-based learning activity is presented that was created to support a university-level course with an integrative theme of environmental sustainability. Students in a General Education "Environmental Biology" course were asked to relate academic concepts to real-world scenarios by creating a hypothetical ecoresort on an island that…

Issues of global and local importance such as climate change and homelessness require critical perspectives across multiple disciplines including science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Our paper brings critical mathematics education and social justice alongside STEM education to explore experiences of learning to teach. We focus…