Notes on Problem-Focused Interdisciplinary Education (Working Paper) (original) (raw)

Interdisciplinary Studies: A Critical Review of the Concept, Paradigm, and Difficulties

Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 2024

Interdisciplinarity constitutes one of the main drivers for the development of scientific knowledge as it contributes instimulating scientific research from different perspectives and methodologies and inreducing the isolation between disciplines. Although interdisciplinarity has become a common trend in scientific and academic circles of universities and research centers in recent years, the concept of interdisciplinarity remains largely controversial. The concept of interdisciplinarity is still fraught with confusion and ambiguity on many levels, including terminology, the model through which interdisciplinarity can be applied, and the methods or criteria through which interdisciplinarity can be detected. In this context, this research engages with the interdisciplinary studies through three main questions closely related to interdisciplinarity. The first question delves into the nature of interdisciplinarity research, scrutinizing prevalent ideas surrounding it. The second question explores proposed models for interdisciplinary research, their criteria, and examines whether a normative interdisciplinary model emerges from the literature. Whereas, the third question focuses on difficulties and opportunities facing interdisciplinary research in academic environments. In an attempt to answer these questions, several researchers from different disciplines participated in writing this research paper, where they engaged critically with the prevailing literature on interdisciplinarity, and presented a comprehensive theoretical review based on three levels of analysis.

Challenges of Interdisciplinary Research

Interdisciplinary Management Research, 2010

There is no single definition that encompasses the diverse range of activities that have been described under the heading of interdisciplinary research. The history of science from the time of the earliest scholarship abounds with examples of the integration of knowledge from many research fields. In recent decades, the growth of scientific and technical knowledge has prompted scientists, engineers, social scientists, and humanists to join in addressing complex problems that must be attacked simultaneously with deep knowledge from different perspectives. On an individual basis, studies show that situational factors, such as exposure to ideas outside one’s own discipline, may have a positive impact on researchers in their own discipline. This article briefly reflects upon three issues only: (i) managing an interdisciplinary career, (ii) negotiating interdisciplinary collaborations and (iii) supervising interdisciplinary students. Interdisciplinarity is something to be learned and acq...

The complexities of interdisciplinarity: Integrating two different perspectives on interdisciplinary research and education

Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, 8(2), 2011

The aim of this article is to open a conversation between the complexity & education community and the field of interdisciplinarity (as well as its close relative, interprofessionalism). It starts by describing two very different streams of thought in the literature on interdisciplinary research and education: One that focuses on the socio-cultural dynamics among disciplinary ‘knowers’ and one that emphasizes the complexity of the phenomena studied by these disciplinary knowers. Next, the author argues that recent epistemological thinking associated with the complexity & education community can help to integrate these streams of thought—offering a way for interdisciplinary inquiry to respect both the complexity of knowers and the complexity of the known.

The interdisciplinary problem: an analysis

Analiza i Egzystencja, 2022

1 I use the term cross-disciplinarity because it is already used like this, and the term multidisciplinarity has already been reserved to denote a specific version of combining research from different disciplines.

Interdisciplinary: To Be or Not to Be?

Leviathan: Interdisciplinary Journal in English

This article introduces student readers to the realm of the interdisciplinary, with a primary focus on the humanities. We first introduce interdisciplinarity and other related terms as concepts. We then present eight specific examples, on which we illustrate interdisciplinary research. Finally, we address the question of when one should be interdisciplinary.

The practice of interdisciplinarity: Complex conditions and the potential of interdisciplinary theory

Issues in Integrative Studies, 2001

This article illustrates the formulation of interdisciplinary process presented in Bill Newell's article, "A Theory of Interdisciplinary Studies," by examining a "self-organized" community effort. This effort shows the power of interdisciplinary process, whether consciously or unconsciously applied, in a social setting. It also guides our understanding of the potential strengths and limits of the interdisciplinary process, especially in complex social systems.

How and Why to Teach Interdisciplinary Research Practice

Journal of Research Practice, 2007

This article addresses the interrelated questions of why it is important to teach students about the nature of interdisciplinarity and how this material might be best communicated to students. It is important to define for students what is meant by disciplines and interdisciplinarity. Having distinguished interdisciplinarity from the disciplinary approach, the advantages and disadvantages of each can be discussed. It is useful to discuss the history of both disciplines and interdisciplinarity. It is also useful to discuss the complex relationship between interdisciplinarity and other intellectual currents: postmodernism, unity of science, complexity analysis, feminism, and others. Critically, students should be guided as to how interdisciplinary research might be best performed. Some potential objections to teaching interdisciplinary research practice are addressed.

An introduction to interdisciplinary research: theory and practice

2016

Moving through the Science Cycle 18 3 The disciplines 25 3.1 Academic disciplines: A brief history 25 3.2 Our definition of a discipline 27 3.3 Classification of academic disciplines 29 4 Interdisciplinarity 31 5 Complexity: the main driving force behind interdisciplinarity 34 5.1 Complex (adaptive) systems 35 5.2 Complexity broken down into drivers of interdisciplinarity 38 6 Interdisciplinary integration 41 6.1 Communication as a first step to integration 43 6.2 Integration techniques