An interdisciplinary approach to education is a method of teaching that draws on knowledge and skills from a variety of disciplines. The primary goal of childhood education is to improve critical thinking skills. Interdisciplinary approaches are also used many undergraduate and graduate programs to accommodate their students’ research interests.
The natural course of education includes a lot of interdisciplinary learning. For example, a student might be given a math word problem stating that someone purchased celery, green beans, broccoli, and apples. The student may be asked to add up the total amount of money spent on vegetables during that shopping trip in order to answer the question. To begin, the student would need to employ reading comprehension skills in order to comprehend the question. In order to know not to include the apples in the calculation, he or she would also need to draw on outside knowledge about vegetables.
Teachers can also assign projects that are purposefully designed to be interdisciplinary. If students read a book set in Antarctica, for example, they might conduct research on polar ecosystems or penguin social behavior to incorporate science. They might also learn about historical explorers who first set foot on the continent. To demonstrate their knowledge of all of these different areas of learning, they will usually be required to write, draw, or create other forms of artwork. This encourages students to see connections between different areas of knowledge, which helps them develop critical thinking skills.
The interdisciplinary approach is frequently used in research in higher education. Students are traditionally encouraged to choose a field of study early in their university careers. Students’ interests, on the other hand, may span a wide range of academic disciplines. For example, international development could include economics, international relations, and even anthropology. A student interested in psychology may discover that knowledge of sociology and statistics is also required to comprehend his or her subject.
In order to bridge these types of knowledge gaps, students and researchers frequently use an interdisciplinary approach. In order to complete the requirements of an interdisciplinary degree, students may take classes from a variety of colleges. Students in graduate school may be eligible for research grants that allow them to collaborate with professors from a variety of academic disciplines.
Students who want to pursue an interdisciplinary degree must usually submit a degree proposal to their academic advisers. The proposal may need to be approved a dean or administrator because interdisciplinary degrees do not always follow standardized guidelines. Graduate students may require advisers in each of their fields of study.