Chaos Theory as Relevance for Engineering Education in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Africa

Abstract

In the fourth industrial revolution (4IR)period, an inclusion of Chaos Theory (CT) in Engineering education (EE) and its significant relevance have involved debates from engineering academia and industrial professional over the years. Thus, much has been done to recall relevance for EE, yet EE has not attained Sustainable Development Goal for educational target, in areas of research relevance, curriculum restructuring, and learning materials/instructional platforms redesigning are still lacking in engineering academia and profession in Africa. With much sensitization on inclusion of CT to instil EE relevance in Africa, is still far from addressing EE gaps; hence the crux of this paper. This paper was guided by Chaos theory providing definite perception which involves equilibrium constructs that are crucial in EE. This paper focused on the concept of CT as its relevance in EE in the4IR in Africa. In particular, it explores how CT can enhance relevance in EE; and how the principles of CT can improve the EE relevance, as well as its implications in Africa. Thus, to address these gaps, recommendations such as developing nonchaotic curriculum for EE, adopting Chaos theoretical principles in facilitating staff training and students’ skill development were advocated.