Systems-level approaches are required for addressing the world's major challenges at the food-energy-water nexus. Taking on complex issues, such as rising food insecurity, malnutrition, and food waste, concomitant with unprecedented levels of stress on environmental systems, will necessitate that future scholars and decision makers be prepared…

Many students have expressed that they feel highly distressed by the state of the world they are inheriting. Extreme weather and wildfires around the globe, and increasingly sobering assessments about projected futures by researchers, activists, and global leaders have led to a growing consensus that the world is at a turning point when it comes…

While project-based learning can be traced back to centuries-old theory, new research shows how it is linked to a variety of efforts for change in innovative schools.

Traditional social sector and international development organizations have prioritized measuring the impacts of their work for decades. Understanding the ways in which they are bringing about change or helping people and communities has long been part of the traditional social sector ethos. The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) was founded by…

Although "STEM" has been part of the education lexicon for years, the "E" for engineering has received little attention from K-12 educators. Engineering is taught only sporadically in K-12 schools, despite growing evidence that engaging in engineering education leads to improved student learning and achievement in mathematics…

The curriculum module described in this article addresses the global issue of ocean acidification (OA) (Feely 2009; Figure 1). OA is a harmful consequence of excess carbon dioxide (CO[subscript 2]) in the atmosphere and poses a threat to marine life, both algae and animal. This module seeks to teach and help students master the cross-disciplinary…

The idea that people inevitably act in accordance with their self-interest on the basis of a calculation of costs and benefits does not constitute an adequate framework for understanding political acts of violence and self-sacrifice. Recent research suggests that a better understanding is needed of how sacred values and notions of self and group…

Students at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, can now take an innovative biology course in which an integrated, interdisciplinary, problem-based approach is used--one that the scientific community itself is promoting. The first course in a four-semester sequence, Biology 123--The Living World: Concepts and Connections--explores real-world…

The freshman research paper can be a labor for both the teacher and the student with its many layers of skills and expectations. While academia has moved beyond note cards and simplified documentation models, students continue to get lost in the research process, often to the point that instructors may even wonder if they had been teaching in an…

Interdisciplinary education promotes the unity of knowledge by bridging the cultural divide between the social constructs of disciplines and encourages the development of knowledge to enhance society. As an inquiry-based and relevant approach that expands and advances knowledge, interdisciplinary education facilitates creativity and flexibility,…

College and university educators seek to increase student engagement in learning content, skills, and applications. To achieve this goal, we used transformative teaching techniques in the design of a World Challenge: a two-week, group-based, reflective course for sophomores leading their own learning in developing creative solutions to the problem…

Reflections on crossing disciplinary lines abound in the scientific community. Can cross-disciplinary approaches, with all their complexity and particularities, provide the way forward in the search for practical solutions to real-world problems? In this article, the author addresses how the debate on cross-disciplinarization pertains to the field…

From media news coverage to fluctuating gas prices, the topic of energy is hard to ignore. However, little connection often exists between energy use in our daily lives and the presentation of energy-related concepts in the science classroom. The concepts of energy production and consumption bring together knowledge from several science…

Finding solutions to complex health problems, such as obesity, violence, and climate change, will require radical changes in cross-disciplinary education, research, and practice. The fundamental determinants of health include many interrelated factors such as poverty, culture, education, environment, and government policies. However, traditional…

"The Routledge Applied Linguistics Reader" is an essential collection of readings for students of Applied Linguistics. Divided into five sections: Language Teaching and Learning, Second Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics, Identity and Power and Language Use in Professional Contexts, the "Reader" takes a broad…