The number of concerns plaguing the 21^st century, chief among them being catastrophes caused by climate change as well as rapidly escalating cybersecurity threats, are likely to worsen as, according to new research, humans are not equipped to battle these issues.

The reason given has everything to do with a lack of training in the teamwork skills necessary for confronting multidimensional problems.

A team of interdisciplinary researchers suggests that the absence of training in collaborative problem solving (CPS) exists among modern-day workers. CPS is a problem-solving method that requires the interaction of coworkers to work together with the focus of solving some larger problem. Typically, these groups are composed of members with similar concerns, passions and goals who feel comfortable enough to question and attempt to understand common issues.

“CPS is an essential skill in the workforce and the community because many of the problems faced in the modern world require teams to integrate group achievements with team members’ idiosyncratic knowledge,” the authors of the report said.

According to the team’s findings, just 8% of students all over the world demonstrated solid CPS skills. That estimate is from a 2015 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development survey of over 500,000 15-year-old students.

“The experiences of students in and out of the classroom are not preparing them for these skills that are needed as adults,” the study's authors wrote.

Some of the blame, according to the study, lies with a deficiency in evidence-based standards. Likewise, researchers note that a school-curriculum with agendas focused on “education task- and discipline-specific knowledge,” are also to blame.

While the authors suggest that some CPS-relevant training might be gained through extracurricular activities, they are not, according to researchers, entirely relevant to problem-solving.

“We are nearly at ground zero in identifying pedagogical approaches to improving CPS skills," cautioned the authors.

To remedy the issue, the National Science Foundation is funding a project that will train students in collaboration across disciplines to locate effective CPS solutions for handling the impact of rising sea levels in Virginia’s eastern shore.

“It’s exciting to engage in real world testing of methods developed in laboratory studies on teamwork, to see how feedback on collaboration, and reflection on that feedback to improve teamwork strategies, can improve students’ problem solving,” explained report author Stephen M. Fiore from the University of Central Florida who is also training students under the National Science Foundation project.

Researchers also noted that to establish training for such skills requires interdisciplinary collaboration among educators, researchers and policymakers. In particular, researchers emphasize that psychological scientists will need to be involved.

“When psychological scientists collaborate with educational researchers, computer scientists, psychometricians, and educational experts, we hope to move forward in addressing this global deficit in CPS,” concluded the study's authors.

The research is detailed in the publication Psychological Science in the Public Interest.