Advanced Skills Development in Sustainability Through Interdisciplinary Engineering/Sciences Education

Integrating sustainability and digital transformation into education can be improved through the use of a wide range of innovative technological experiments [1-3]. This project leverages the Foldscope—a portable, affordable, and powerful microscope (low-cost devices)—to engage undergraduate engineering and sciences students, particularly in biomedical and biological fields, in innovative learning experiences [4,5]. The initiative integrates microscopy with new digital imaging technologies into sciences and engineering education, focusing on sustainable practices, biomedical/biological applications, and also environmental monitoring that could foster peer learning on sustainability. Through hand-on-based experiments, students will explore topics such as biomaterial analysis, environmental sampling, and sustainable resource design that support universal design approaches for learning and interdisciplinary approaches. These activities, based on the proposed educational framework as shown in Figure 1, will deepen their understanding of sustainability principles and biomedical engineering and biological science concepts, which align with the SATLE24 themes of education for sustainable development and digital transformation by embedding interdisciplinary, transformative pedagogies into the educational workshops.