2.1 Stage one: The research question

The research question aims to guide the employed search strategy. In particular, we tried to understand what concept of intuition the authors of the reviewed articles used to guide their educational design for the achievement of specific disciplinary objectives. We also tried to understand its implications for professional development.

2.2 Stage two: Identifying the relevant studies

As recommended by Arksey and O'Malley (2005), a detailed search of the sources was carried out in order to identify the relevant studies that can provide answers to the research questions. For this reason, a systematic search was conducted in various electronic databases, selecting articles according to the international PRISMA-SCR guidelines and providing a Population, Concept and Context (PCC) framework to better address the review questions and maintain coherence of the search strategy. Specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were also identified that guided the search and selection of articles. Only peer-reviewed articles were selected, written in English, published between 2020 and 2024 (Table 1). We have chosen to review articles published in this timeframe because we wanted to understand what has been done in recent years in the field of Higher Education when intuition training and development started receiving more attention in the academic literature. The article selection activity ended at the end of February 2024, and it was thus possible to review also those articles published in the first months of 2024. In fact, our review includes one article from 2024.

Five databases were consulted for the scoping review: ERIC, Web of Science, Scopus, Education Source Ultimate and APA PsycArticles. ERIC and Education Source Ultimate were selected due to the purely educational dimension of the topic of interest. Moreover, these represent the world's largest and most comprehensive full-text research databases designed for education students, researchers, professionals and policymakers. All databases were consulted from August 2023 until the end of February 2024. Search terms were adjusted for each database to maximise comprehensiveness. With regards to APA PsycArticles and Education Source Ultimate databases, the only search options entered before screening were Boolean/Phrase and Apply Equivalent subjects. Before each screening, the option to select only peer-reviewed articles was added (Table 2).

     433

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2.3 Stage three: Study selection

The article selection was done systematically following the inclusion and exclusion criteria presented in Table 1. The flow chart of this scoping review (Figure 1) shows that the research produced 2138 documents identified through electronic databases. After the removal of duplicates using the Covidence software, 1839 articles remained. From these, excluded were publications in other languages than English and document types different from articles. This resulted in 1053 articles. Further exclusions were based on the following criteria: lack of congruence with the reviewed population; only theoretical research without proposed ED congruent with the objectives of this review; irrelevant topic and/or studies that investigated a congruent topic but differently from the provisions of our review objectives. Importantly, excluded were also those articles which, despite having designed and/or implemented a relevant ED, did not clearly define the concept of intuition. As a final result, this scoping review includes five (5) articles.

2.4 Stage four: Charting the data

This fourth stage presents articles included in the review organised by author(s), setting (i.e. the academic courses in which the educational design was conceived or even implemented), the reference population, the research methods used by the authors of the articles to present their educational design and the performed related procedures. From each article, the salient elements have been selected that better present information already partly mentioned in the PCC and that help to understand the environment in which the educational design was developed (Table 3).

2.5 Stage five: Collate, summarise and report results

This final stage requires a qualitative description, in order to summarise and synthesise the data. Thematic analysis was used to code and classify the concepts identified in this study.

Table 4 maps the selected articles based on the author(s), the conceptualisation of intuition developed by the authors or adopted from other scholars and the involved disciplines (Table 4).

Table 5 contains information relating to the way in which the educational design was conceived: its objectives, planning structure and key results achieved or imagined (if ED was only designed and not implemented) (Table 5).

3.1 Overall characteristics of the reviewed studies

Each of the three tables presented above (Table 3, 4, 5) contains information that offers answers to some research questions of this review. The content in Table 3, for example, addresses question 2 about the reference population for which the ED has been designed and/or implemented. Table 4 reveals how intuition is conceptualized in some academic disciplines (question 1, 3). Finally, Table 5 provides answers to research questions 4, 5 and 6, concerning the educational objectives of the ED proposed and/or implemented, the kind of design adopted in the ED and the key findings achieved or intended by the ED.

Among the general characteristics that emerged from the analysis, of particular interest are those concerning the representativeness of the population, the type of research methods used by the authors of the articles and the implementation of ED. As for the recipient population of ED, this is composed of engineering students (two articles), students of a translation school (one article), physics students at university (one article) and industrial design students (one article). The majority of ED, however, has been implemented in STEM courses. In terms of research methods used by the authors to present the ED, most prevalent is the mixed-method approach (e.g. evaluation of the quality of ED implemented and evaluation of the objectives achieved by the students through a combination of qualitative and quantitative data). Another characteristic related to ED implementation is the number of students for whom it was intended. The two EDs that were only proposed do not stipulate a number of potential participants. On the contrary, the three implemented EDs report quite variable student numbers. Most impressive is student participation (n=517) in the ED discussed in the article by Mila Kryjevskaia and colleagues (2020) as the goal was to generalize the results. This is also the reason why this ED was implemented at three different universities.

The following subsections present the most recurrent and most important conceptual categories that emerged from the analysis and review of the five articles. These subsections interpret information from the same three tables discussed above.

3.2 Conceptualisation of intuition and the involved disciplines

From the analysis of the information presented in Table 4 it emerges that only authors of two articles (Dart & Lim, 2022; Ji, Bell, & Wu, 2021) developed their own concept of intuition without making any reference to any definition from the literature. For example, Ji and colleagues (2021), similar to Dart and colleague (2022), view intuition as a viaticum through which to achieve different levels of understanding. The authors do not consider, however, the role that reason plays in relation to intuition. Interestingly all authors who developed their own concept of intuition come from civil engineering. Their conceptualisation suggests that intuition in the engineering field is understood as gut feeling based on past knowledge gained over time through experience. For engineers, intuition lies at the intersection of disciplinary expertise and general experience, which aligns with the underlying sentiment that intuition alone is not enough to justify a decision (Aaron et al., 2020). Some scholars believe, for example, that intuition is situated within the process of problem solving and support the complementary understanding of intuition as the synthesis of problem-solving approaches (Miskioğlu et al., 2023).

From the other three reviewed articles that base their definitions on the existing literature, a consensus about intuition emerged as being pre-conscious, infused with affect, emotions and feelings, and related to creativity (Sinclair & Ashkanasy, 2005). This understanding is certainly shared by Meng Zhou (2022) who draws on the default-interventionist model, stipulating interaction between intuition and reasoning, for eliciting moral decisions in tasks relating to correct and reliable translations (discipline: Translation ethics). Intuition, in this case, is triggered by a ‘circuit breaker’ or a surprise.

Kryjevskaia and colleagues (2020) take a different stance and outline intuition in broader terms than mere gut feeling or the value of experience. For them, it encompasses also formal knowledge/mindware and cognitive reflection (discipline: Physics). This conceptualisation is useful when adequate experience has not yet been acquired. Mindware is usually described in the literature as a set of rules, knowledge, procedures and strategies that can be recovered from memory to help the decision-making process (Stanovich, 2009).

A more multifaceted perspective is presented by Gerald Cupchik and colleagues (2024) in their ED for creative design ideation. The authors distinguish between experiential intuition (based on fast retrieval of past experience) and associative intuition (based on free associations generating new ideas). This is consistent with a common differentiation between expert intuition used in fast decision-making and a protracted emergence of creative intuition prevalent in novel problem solving (Sinclair, 2010). Drawing on dual-process theories, the authors view intuition and reasoning as complementary in their ED (discipline: Industrial design). For industrial design as well as for physics intuition plays an important educational role in the association of ideas and experiences in problem solving, but for those who have little experience it is advisable not to rely solely on it.

3.3 Educational Design and its relationship with intuition

This section interprets the relationship between the way in which the authors of the reviewed articles designed the ED and conceptualised intuition.

For the authors of the two articles that formulated their own concept (Dart & Lim, 2022; Ji, Bell, & Wu, 2021), intuition helps students create new meanings, connections, understandings, and as such, is considered a critical capacity. Interestingly, all these authors not only come from the same discipline (civil engineering) but they have also developed similar educational objectives for their ED: An intuitive understanding of structural concepts and the use of intuition to create connections between theory and practice. The authors of both articles believe that intuition through observation plays an important role in the acquisition of conceptual content. For this reason, Ji and colleagues use exercises and case studies while Dart and colleague utilise 3D printers. The premise is that intuition can be drawn either from theory or from practical experience. For example, the teaching/learning method in five SEEMS phases (Seeking new connections, Exploring new meanings, Evolving into intuitive understanding, Making wide and creative applications and Simplicity) proposed by Ji and colleagues highlights such characteristics of intuition as coherence, harmony and elegance that found support in work by some intuition scholars (Dörfler & Ackermann, 2012).

Dart and Lim (2022) have, in turn, designed an ED based on physical interaction with 3D models that allowed some students unstructured self-directed exploration, while simultaneously facilitated for other students problem-solving activities, in order to strengthen understanding. It suggests that some students used their intuition to gain understanding (deepen their knowledge) while others to solve problems (exploit their creativity). Dart and Lim refer particularly to the evidence-based learning model by John Hattie and Greg Donoghue (2016) that consists of three phases: Superficial learning, deep learning and transfer. In the surface phase, students aim to reproduce facts and processes without forming connections between ideas. In the deep phase, students have a sense of what they are learning by developing relationships between concepts, while the transfer phase involves application of learning in extensive situations. In this model, the application of knowledge content to extensive situations requires deep learning prior to the acquisition of knowledge itself. In the ED designed by Dart and Lim, the value of spatial orientation and interaction with objects reveals another layer of intuitive learning.

Zhou's ED (2022) aims instead to train both the ‘deliberative (reasoning) mind’ and the ‘intuitive mind’ through the use of thematic lectures, classroom teaching and supervised sessions, comprising guided case analysis, self-reflection, group discussion and feedback. The main ED objective is to develop moral interpretation through reasoning that would complement intuitive moral judgement shaped by ingrained values. Zhou’s reference is the neurocognitive model of ethical decision-making (Reynolds, 2006) where moral decisions are based on the lower-order reflexive/intuitive cycle in the brain and the higher-order analytical/reasoning cycle. This means that when one has to make an ethical decision, the reflexive cycle automatically tries to match received moral stimuli with ethical prototypes stored in one’s memory. Only when the reflexive cycle is challenged, the analytical cycle intervenes, which may also result in the restructuring of existing ethical prototypes, thus creating an opportunity for learning that may lead to an improved ethical judgement. For Zhou, ethical decision-making competence in translation is therefore a double construct that combines the experience of the translator to decide intuitively and to reflect on the decision rationally. A collateral goal is to help students become aware of their socially conditioned moral intuitions so they can question them.

The ED by Kryjevskaia and colleagues (2020) goes even further. Its aim is not to develop intuition, but rather to correct or remove it when it causes flawed reasoning in certain less common-sense contexts, specifically in more abstract disciplines such as physics. The authors draw on dual-process theory, and like other reviewed EDs intended to develop expertise, they utilise further cognitive constructs such as mindware (previous formal knowledge) and cognitive activities such as reflection. Their goal is to help students control the validity of what is developed in the initially flawed intuitive phase. Because of their focus on expertise, the authors distinguish between intuition of experts and novices, as has been established in the intuition literature (Baylor, 2001).

A different perspective is presented by Cupchik and colleagues (2024) who focus in their ED on how to combine intuition effectively with logic/reasoned judgement. While the former draws on experience developed through practice, the latter utilises theoretical knowledge developed through formal instruction. Contrary to other reviewed articles that focused mostly on expert intuition, the authors distinguish between experiential intuition (similar to expert intuition) and associative intuition (similar to creative intuition) where the latter emerged mostly in the form of images. As a collateral, students with visualisation skills found it difficult to follow detailed instructions that, on the other hand, were preferred by students with verbal skills. Creative intuition, however, could be promoted only in the presence of sufficient basic knowledge.

Unlike Zhou (2022), the authors of the other two articles preferred to adopt a more evidence-based approach to education. The didactic method prevalent in all three articles revolves around work or discussions in a small group. The educational dimension of intuition seems to emerge through group work and a discussion among several students, as it allows for the externalisation of first ideas that come to mind (Lobato Rincón et al., 2021). Small group work is a methodology used in problem-based learning (PBL) or in team-based learning (Cera, 2017) where the role of intuition is decisive. In STEM education, for example, the PBL is used to teach complex concepts of physics, as it allows, through investigation and comparison (Lee, Larkin, & Hoekstra, 2023), to externalise in the first moment creative ideas conveyed through intuition and then resort to conscious reflection when an epistemological belief may become a dangerous misconception. If intuition consists indeed of a non-sequential association of information that involves emotional and sensory elements, then the intuitive dimension of education can utilise didactic methods based on the use of images, simulations and experiences accumulated over time. This conclusion finds support in experiential learning of David Kolb (1984) and also John Dewey (1993) who refer to a dimension through which it becomes possible for intuition to assume educational value. For Kolb, learning is a process that creates knowledge through the transformation of experience. In turn, Dewey believes that learning takes place through discovery and experience as a process in which theory, observation, action and experience integrate. In summary, observation, simulation and experience help intuition create associations between information, and as a result generate new knowledge that can be later reflected upon, thus helping to feed the continuum of the conscious process.