Research: Study of collegiate and pre-collegiate interdisciplinary education
Our study of collegiate and pre-collegiate interdisciplinary education examines the challenges, motivations, and approaches to quality interdisciplinary education as perceived by faculty, administrators, and students in ten well-established interdisciplinary programs throughout the country. Our sample included collegiate programs such as Stanford's Human Biology, Swarthmore's Interpretation Theory, University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics, and NEXA at San Francisco State University. Our pre-collegiate programs sample included the International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge Course, St. Paul School's Humanities program, the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts School in Massachusetts, and the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. Our analysis focused on the cognitive, pedagogical, and collaborative dimensions of interdisciplinary education. A combination of semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and analysis of course designs and student work shed empirical light on issues such as:
- How faculty and students view the nature and purpose of interdisciplinary teaching and the learning challenges it presents.
- A range of effective strategies that faculty and program architects employ to integrate disciplinary perspectives in the classroom and the curriculum.
- Assessment of student interdisciplinary work, its challenges and a proposed framework.
- The ways in which faculty are shaped by interdisciplinary collaborations.
- Preliminary parameters for a pedagogy for interdisciplinary understanding.
Related publications:
- Three Strategies of Interdisciplinary Teaching of Math and Science: A Case of Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
- From a Community of People to a Community of Disciplines: The Art of Integrative Humanities at St. Paul's School
- Three Strategies for Interdisciplinary Teaching: Contextualizing, Conceptualizing, and Problem-Solving