Disciplinary & Interdisciplinary Studies

Disciplines ranging from history and the arts to biology and mathematics embody culturally valued knowledge and modes of thinking that deepen our understanding of the world and our capacity to create products, solve problems, explain phenomena. Understanding and engaging today’s most pressing societal issues: from climate change to mass migration, from global health to the digital revolution, requires that we prepare our young to integrate disciplinary perspectives and to do so with quality. What constitutes quality interdisciplinary understanding? How do we nurture it well? How can we prepare professionals to teach for interdisciplinary understanding? How can we prepare them for successful collaborations?

Resources

Book
Multiple Intelligences around the World
Published: 2009
Since its introduction in 1983, Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences (MI) theory has become a touchstone of education. Embracing a wide array of human talents that... Read more
Article
Making Thinking Visible (Article)
Published: 2008
When learners speak, write, or draw their ideas, they deepen their cognition. Project Zero's Visible Thinking approach shows how. Read more
Tool
Teaching for Understanding Unit vs. Traditional Unit
Published: 2008
What makes a Teaching for Understanding (TfU) unit different than a traditional unit? View an example of a TfU unit and then use this template to transform existing or create... Read more
Article
Integrative Learning: Setting the Stage for a Pedagogy of the Contemporary
Published: 2008
Underlying the significant social and technical changes of our increasingly global society is a profound transformation in the very nature of learning. Twenty-first-century... Read more
Article
Learning that Matters
Published: 2006
Nothing could be more obvious than that we want learning that matters, that makes a difference in learners’ lives. Nothing could be less obvious than that we are getting it... Read more