Transdisciplinary STEM: Beyond Integration

Explore how transdisciplinary STEM learning prepares students to address complex, real-world problems and develop skills for their futures. Learn to identify and strengthen opportunities for transdisciplinary learning.

Introduction

In this learning module, you will explore how transdisciplinary STEM learning goes beyond integrating multiple disciplines to help students make sense of complex phenomena and address real-world problems. Examine examples of transdisciplinary learning and consider how these experiences help students prepare for future careers.

Learning Module Outcomes

Learning Targets
By the end of this learning module, you will be able to:

Describe the features of a transdisciplinary STEM lesson or unit and articulate the benefits and challenges of this approach.
Articulate how shifting towards transdisciplinary STEM learning supports the development of workplace skills.

Demonstrated Competency
To demonstrate competency, you will:

Evaluate an existing instructional unit to identify its alignment with the characteristics of transdisciplinary STEM learning.
Propose and justify revisions to an instructional unit to strengthen opportunities for transdisciplinary learning.

Anticipated Student Impact
As you apply the knowledge and skills developed in this learning module, students may have increased opportunities to:

Integrate knowledge and practices from multiple disciplines to investigate complex, real-world phenomena and problems.

Badge Earned
When all evidence submitted in this learning module meets the criteria for demonstrating competency, you will be awarded the following badge:

Transdisciplinary STEM: Beyond Integration

Before You Begin

This learning experience is designed for educators who have some familiarity with the foundational ideas of sensemaking, STEM, and career-readiness competencies. You do not need to be an expert, and there are no required prerequisite modules. You will get the most out of this experience if you are already familiar with the instructional practices described below.

Helpful background knowledge and experiences include:

A basic understanding of sensemaking
Familiarity with phenomenon-based teaching and learning
Experience with career-readiness competencies.

If any of these ideas are new to you, you may still participate. However, we encourage you to use these related PLUs and Learning Modules to build background knowledge as needed:

What is Sensemaking?
Integrated STEM: Building Career Competencies

A note about showing evidence of competency:

When you demonstrate evidence of competency of the knowledge and skills developed in this learning module, you will earn a verifiable, digital badge and a certificate of completion. You can add this badge to your professional portfolio and share it within your professional networks.

Throughout this learning module there are questions for you to answer and reflect on your thinking. Some questions will be identified as competency questions. Your responses to these questions will be reviewed as evidence of your competency.

A reviewer will evaluate and provide feedback on each of these questions and indicate whether the criterion for demonstrating competency is:

Met: Your response provides sufficient evidence.
Partially Met: Your response provides some evidence, but additional detail, clarification, or revision is needed.
Not Met: Your response does not yet provide evidence OR does not address the criterion.

To earn the digital badge, all evidence you submit must show “criteria met.” If one or more criteria are partially met or not met, the module will be returned to you with feedback. You will then have the opportunity to revise and resubmit your evidence.

Open ended questions that are not identified as competency questions will not be reviewed. However, you are strongly encouraged to respond to these questions, as they are designed to support your learning and preparation for the competency task.

A note for pre-service teachers

This learning module asks participants to reflect on their experiences to consider possibilities and challenges related to transdisciplinary STEM teaching and learning. Consider using your college/university teaching program, the school/district in which you were placed for classroom observations, or the school/district in which you were placed for student teaching as your implementation context.

Resources

Resources that support the learning in this PLU can be accessed from the Transdisciplinary STEM: Beyond Integration Collection.

Focus and Connect

Let’s consider a complex real-world problem: protecting forests from multiple threats, including changing temperature and precipitation patterns, wildfire, pests and disease, and deforestation. Consider potential solutions you have read about or discussed in the past.

Respond to these prompts in the STEM and Other Disciplines Collaborative Whiteboard (Resource #1 in the Transdisciplinary STEM: Beyond Integration Collection). Then, review and react to the responses shared by others.

Next, consider two ways that real people are working to mitigate these threats:

Watch the video, From Space to Soil: How NASA Sees Forests (Resource #2 in the Transdisciplinary STEM: Beyond Integration Collection)
Read the blog post, titled Indigenous People see the importance of protecting forests but can the rest of the world follow?, shared by the United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (Resource #3 in the Transdisciplinary STEM: Beyond Integration Collection).

Question 1.b

Consider the disciplines (STEM and other) and ways of knowing that are being used to develop and implement these real-world solutions.

How are these similar to or different from the disciplines shared in the collaborative whiteboard?

(Participants do not need to record a response. Consider the question and check your ideas against what is inside the expandable content box.)

STEM and Other Disciplines Mitigating Forest Threats

This list is not meant to be all-inclusive, and your ideas likely vary from this list.

In your original thinking, you may have identified disciplines such as:

Life Science
Biology
Meteorology
Climate Science
Earth and Space Science
Geology
Forestry
Soil Science
Engineering
Historical Ecological Knowledge

After watching the video and reading the blog post, you might now include disciplines such as:

Computer Science
Systems Engineering
Software Engineering
Hardware Engineering
Data Science
AI Experts
Physics
Satellite experts
Indigenous Knowledge
Political Knowledge
Business or Funding Knowledge

If you did not identify any of these disciplines, return to the video and blog post. Where do you see evidence that these disciplines are a part of designing a solution to the problem?

The problems that STEM professionals design solutions for are too complex for one person or discipline. In these examples, the complex problem being solved brings together, or converges, experts from a variety of STEM disciplines and other disciplines.

Build and Refine Ideas

Convergence Education

Convergence education and transdisciplinary learning are defined in various ways depending on the context. This learning module will use the definitions provided in the National Science and Technology Council’s report Convergence Education: A Guide to Transdisciplinary STEM Learning and Teaching.

Read the following definitions and statements from the report, and take a few minutes to reflect on what they mean for you and your students.

STEM refers to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Engaging students where disciplines converge seeks to make STEM more meaningful and inspiring to students by focusing on real-world problems and challenges that require initiative and creativity. Convergence education is a transdisciplinary approach to teaching, learning, and assessment that focuses on the areas where STEM disciplines converge, such as tackling climate change, pandemic readiness and prevention, emerging technologies, and innovation and entrepreneurship.
While much work has been done to teach students about complex real-world problems and topics, it would be beneficial to have a distinct and common framework for convergence education that is universally recognized. Most of the literature to date, for example, agrees that transdisciplinary learning produces critical thinkers and engaged learners, and it instills more workforce readiness skills in students than traditional education models. In particular, it fosters innovation and the ability to solve complex societal issues.
Convergence education is driven by compelling or complex socio-scientific problems or topics, where learners apply knowledge and skills using a blended approach across multiple disciplines (i.e. transdisciplinary) to create and innovate new solutions.

Record your ideas in the Transdisciplinary Learning Google form (Resource #4 in the Transdisciplinary Learning: Beyond Integration Collection).

Review the responses shared by others in the Transdisciplinary Learning Response Document (Resource #5 in the Transdisciplinary Learning: Beyond Integration Collection). Look for similarities and differences in responses.

You considered a complex real-world problem - mitigating threats to forests - and identified knowledge and skills from several disciplines that are actively being used to solve the problem. Translating a transdisciplinary approach to problem-solving into classroom practice likely feels both exciting and challenging.

Access and read pages 13-15, through the end of the table, and the diagram on page 19 of Convergence Education: A Guide to Transdisciplinary STEM Learning and Teaching (Resource #6 in the Transdisciplinary Learning: Beyond Integration Collection). As you evaluate the information, consider connections to your practice.

Transdisciplinary STEM Learning in Action

Next, you will examine an example of transdisciplinary STEM learning, and record your ideas about disciplines, skills, and practices that are necessary to solve the problem. Access and make a copy of the Examining Transdisciplinary Learning handout (Resource #7 in the Transdisciplinary Learning: Beyond Integration Collection).

Play minutes 41:06-46:15 of the web seminar Convergence Education: A Framework to Help K-12 Educators Teach about Transdisciplinary Phenomena (Resource #8 in the Transdisciplinary Learning: Beyond Integration Collection). As you watch and listen, record your ideas in your copy of the Examining Transdisciplinary Learning handout.

The project shared by Trey Smith is just one way that transdisciplinary STEM learning could look in the classroom. Consider the fourth grade students who worked to solve this problem.

Long Term Impacts of Transdisciplinary Learning

Re-read this excerpt from Convergence Education: A Guide to Transdisciplinary STEM Learning and Teaching.

Most of the literature to date, for example, agrees that transdisciplinary learning produces critical thinkers and engaged learners, and it instills more workforce readiness skills in students than traditional education models.

Workforce readiness skills is a broad category, with many definitions. This module will focus on two of the career readiness competencies defined by The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Read more about these career readiness competencies in the expandable content boxes below:

Career Readiness Competency: Teamwork

As defined by NACE, displaying competency in teamwork means that you can “build and maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively toward common goals, while appreciating diverse viewpoints and shared responsibilities.” This competency includes many behaviors, such as strong interpersonal communication skills, managing conflict, interacting with and respecting diverse personalities and viewpoints, and the ability to collaborate, compromise, and be agile.

Consider the complex, real-world problem of mitigating threats to forests: The video and the article mention experts from different disciplines working toward the common goal of protecting forests. Aerospace engineers, data scientists, forest managers, politicians, and indigenous peoples all bring knowledge and expertise to the table; they represent different ways of thinking about the problem and may have slightly different priorities while working toward the same goal. Additionally, each person brings a unique working style to the table. This group must work together to make progress toward their common goal.

Career Readiness Competency: Technology

As defined by NACE, displaying competency in technology means that you can “understand and leverage technologies ethically to enhance efficiencies, complete tasks, and accomplish goals.” At a high level, this means being able to navigate change, stay open to learning new technologies, and quickly adapt to new or unfamiliar ones. Individuals must be able to work across technologies, understand the limitations of the technology in use, and maintain digital literacy.

While technology competencies span all careers, STEM careers often leverage specialized technologies to gather and analyze data and communicate findings.

Consider the complex, real-world problem of mitigating threats to forests: GEDI, the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, is mounted on the International Space Station. It is a satellite LIDAR system that measures forest canopies. This system has a major limitation: the ISS doesn’t go over the poles, so it provides no data for boreal forests.

ICESat-2 is a satellite with a LIDAR system designed to measure the elevation and height of Earth’s surface to gather information about ice and snow thickness. This LIDAR system can also gather valuable information about forest height, even though that was not its intended purpose. The team pivoted based on the available technology to gather data from across the planet, creating a global biomass map.

In 2017, the Education Development Center (EDC) published the report Building the Foundational Skills Needed for Success in Work at the Human-Technology Frontier. Read the following excerpt that highlights one way STEM industry leaders envision the future of work:

Predominance of dynamic interdisciplinary teams: Because innovation at the Human-Technology Frontier will come from a convergence of disciplines, future work will be done in dynamic interdisciplinary teams that include machines. Some team members will bring deep content knowledge; others will contribute sophisticated technical skills; and still others will be able to synthesize and get the best synergies among the different actors moving in and out of projects as needed. (page 9)

Note: This resource was published before the term transdisciplinary STEM was regularly used to describe the convergence of disciplines.

In addition to the career readiness skills highlighted above, this report highlights the need for team members to bring deep technical skills. Many resources define essential technical skills and ways of thinking that students in STEM develop. This module will focus on two competencies and their associated skills, described in the expandable content boxes below.

Systems Thinking

A Framework for K-12 Science Education (the Framework) incorporates systems thinking in the Crosscutting Concepts. These crosscutting concepts provide students with an organizational framework for connecting knowledge across engineering and many science disciplines.

A system is a group of individual components that interact with and have some impact on one another. Systems can be a part of larger systems and be made of subsystems. Systems thinking is essential for transdisciplinary STEM learning, because complex phenomena and problems do not happen independently. Asking students to understand the system or systems in which the event occurs provides a lens for figuring out how or why it happens.

K-8 STEM Career Competencies: Developing Foundational Skills for the Future of Work (2021) says that systems thinking is an essential future STEM workplace skill because, in order to make sense of complex problems and challenges, future-ready employees will need to take a holistic view of a system, looking for patterns, identifying cause-and-effect relationships, and predicting the impact of changes. Systems thinking will support future-ready students in solving problems but also in managing the organizational work of the project and interacting with a team, which is also a system.

Consider the complex, real-world problem of mitigating threats to forests: Each forest on Earth is a system in itself, part of the larger Earth system, and made up of many smaller systems. When working to mitigate threats to forests, conservationists and other scientists need to consider the boundaries of the system they are working with. In the examples reviewed in this learning module, forests were considered a part of the larger Earth system as they play a role in the global carbon cycle. Understanding that boundary helps the team(s) define what they are gathering data about, so that they can better understand and solve the problems. Indigenous People’s knowledge and forest management practices are based on the understanding and spirituality of forests as ecological environments interconnected with human systems.

Computational Thinking

A Framework for K-12 Science Education (2012) incorporates computational thinking as a part of the science and engineering practices, and K-8 STEM Career Competencies: Developing Foundational Skills for the Future of Work (2021) defines computational thinking as one of the ten STEM career competencies.

Computational thinking does not require the use of computers, though the use of computer software and hardware can allow for greater sophistication in the computational thinking that happens. Computational thinking involves analyzing, decomposing, and abstracting problems, designing algorithms to help solve problems, and can overlap with identifying and executing solutions (e.g., via programming).

K-8 STEM Career Competencies claims that “as humans and machines become more interdependent and share more work tasks, more workers across all industry sectors will engage in computational thinking.”

Consider the complex, real-world problem of mitigating threats to forests: Scientists use computational thinking to process and analyze large amounts of data about forests around the world. In the NASA video, scientists describe how data collected by the two satellite systems, GEDI and ICESat-2, can be combined to develop a more complete picture of forest biomass and the amount of carbon stored in forests. Computational tools allow the team to analyze these data, identify patterns, and create models that help them understand changes in forests over time.

Think back to the classroom example shared in the webinar, where students worked to design solutions to minimize the environmental impacts of clothing. Consider how this experience supports students in building technical skills and career readiness competencies.

Apply Your Learning

Planning for Transdisciplinary STEM Learning

The resources used throughout this model have shown how transdisciplinary STEM learning can provide opportunities for students to develop and apply ideas from multiple disciplines and build workplace skills and competencies.

The journey to transdisciplinary STEM learning can be thought of as a continuum. Moving forward requires practice and reflection.

You will examine a draft outline of a STEM unit focused on using technology to predict hurricanes to consider where it currently falls on the continuum and make suggestions for how to move it more toward a transdisciplinary approach.

To complete this task, access and make a copy of the Planning for Transdisciplinary Learning handout (Resource #9 in the Transdisciplinary STEM: Beyond Integration Collection). Then access and read the Using Technology to Predict Hurricanes Storyline outline of the unit (Resource #10 in the Transdisciplinary STEM: Beyond Integration Collection).

Read the Hurricane Storyline outline and then complete the Planning for Transdisciplinary Learning handout.

Planning for Transdisciplinary Learning Criteria

Before submitting your response, confirm that you:

Identified where the lesson falls on the continuum of transdisciplinary learning and used specific evidence from the unit outline to explain my reasoning.
Identified one specific change to the unit to move it towards transdisciplinary learning on the continuum and explained how this change will move the unit toward transdisciplinary learning.
Identified one specific change to the unit to support students in enacting critical STEM and/or career readiness competencies and explained how this change would create that opportunity.

As needed, go back to the content of this module to consider the different ways transdisciplinary learning can be enacted. In particular, consider revisiting Convergence Education: A Guide to Transdisciplinary STEM Learning and Teaching (Resource #X in the X Collection). Revise your responses as needed.

Reflect and Extend

According to the World Economic Forum (2025), 39% of workers’ existing skill sets are expected to change or become outdated by 2030. As careers and the skills they require continue to evolve, preparing students for their futures means more than teaching content knowledge. Students need opportunities to develop transferable career-readiness skills that can be applied across contexts, disciplines, and problems.

Resources

Resources that support the learning in this PLU can be accessed from the Transdisciplinary STEM: Beyond Integration Collection.

Additional resources to deepen or extend your learning are also included for your reference.

Citations

National Research Council (2012). A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Malyn-Smith, J., Juliuson, J., MacGillivray, S., Lee, I., & McCurdy-Kirlis, C. (2021). K–8 STEM Career Competencies: Developing Foundational Skills for the Future of Work. Education Development Center, Inc

Malyn-Smith, J., Blustein, D., Pillai, S., Parker, C. E., Gutowski, E., & Diamonti, A. J. (2017). Building the foundational skills needed for success in work at the human-technology frontier. Waltham, MA: EDC.

World Economic Forum. (2025). The Future of Jobs Report 2025. https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025 [1]