Research: Study of experimental interdisciplinary education
This multi-year study employs an action research approach to develop a pedagogical framework for interdisciplinary education at the pre-collegiate level. Through a close collaboration with a select group of high school teachers, the study supports, documents, and analyzes the development and impact of carefully crafted experimental interdisciplinary teaching designs. A systematic longitudinal dimension of the study examines teachers' developing conceptions of interdisciplinary teaching and the teaching repertoires that they can employ. An impact study focuses the learning challenges and opportunities that high school students confront when engaged in interdisciplinary explorations.
Our current analysis of a comprehensive data corpus including longitudinal teacher interviews, teacher seminar documentation, evolving unit designs, classroom observations, teacher interviews and narratives, student interviews and work, sheds empirical light on:
- The development of a grounded pedagogical framework to teach for interdisciplinary understanding.
- A collection of exemplary interdisciplinary units geared to teaching high school students about globalization through interdisciplinary means.
- A longitudinal account of how teachers develop their ability to use interdisciplinary approaches (e.g., support structures needed, role of effective collaborations, the challenges involved in learning a new domain).
- How students move from less to more sophisticated interdisciplinary understandings, (e.g., learning challenges, effective strategies, developmental progressions).
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