1 Island: A Unique Group Learning Experience in Long-View, Trans-Disciplinary Designing Terry Irwin, Gideon Kossoff and Seaton Baxter Centre for the Study of Natural Design, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, The University of Dundee, UK, t.irwin@dundee.ac.uk, gskossoff@dundee.ac.uk, s.z.baxter@dundee.ac.uk, Abstract: This paper reports on an exploratory interdisciplinary assessment project to evolve a hypothetical sustainable island society over a period of 450 years. The paper outlines the premises on which the project was biased. The objectives were to measure whether and how two separate groups of students studying an MSc in Holistic Science might conceive a new society over a long timescale based upon principles from social and deep ecology, holistic science and design and to observe if aspects of a new worldview emerged in the experiment. A Goethean/phenomenological approach was used in the observation of two scale models of islands (based upon actual Azorean islands) and in the development of conceptual narratives. The two teams drawn from a pool of 13 students consisted of participants from 7 nations and aged between 23 and 62 years. They had diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. The paper contrasts the two team’s approaches to collaboration, development of social and cultural systems, pragmatics, sketching and presentation methods. It concludes with recommendations for future developments of the ‘Island’ project and its potential value to other disciplines and trans-disciplinary learning events. Keywords: Worldview, Holistic Science, Sustainable Design, Interdisciplinary Studies, Experiential Learning, Sensory-based learning, Ecoliteracy. Project Premise The project was based upon the following premises and observations: 1) The complex problems confronting us in the 21st century are interrelated and interdependent and have arisen out of the dominant worldview whose origins lie in the scientific revolution of the 17th century Capra (1982). Worldview is defined (Sire 2004) as “a set of presuppositions (assumptions that may be true, partially true, or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic makeup of our world.” Systems theorist Donella Meadows (1997) maintains that the most powerful leverage point for significant change within a complex system (whether an individual, organization or a society at large) happens at the level of worldview or paradigm.