Enhancing High School Biology Education Students’ Transdisciplinary Thinking Through Design Thinking

In an era of accelerating global complexity, traditional compartmentalized science instruction often fails to foster the transdisciplinary agility required for modern challenges. This quasi-experimental study (N=141) evaluated the efficacy of a design thinking-infused biology curriculum against problem-based learning and traditional didactic models in senior high school. Data triangulated from a validated Transdisciplinary Thinking Scale and focus group discussions revealed that the design-centric cohort achieved statistically significant gains in knowledge integration, collaborative synthesis, and divergent critical thinking. The findings suggest that the iterative, human-centered nature of design thinking effectively bridges academic silos, transforming biological concepts into actionable solutions. Consequently, this research provides a rigorous pedagogical framework for equipping 21st-century learners with the integrated competencies necessary to navigate and resolve multifaceted socio-environmental crises.