Throughout 2018 we had the privilege of engaging with Julie Thompson Klein using an ethnographic approach combining interviews via teleconferencing and email exchanges to discuss many aspects of her work with the goal of understanding how she herself views her scholarly evolution over the past five decades. Discussions about Klein's life quickly…

Researchers typically embark on interdisciplinarity after the acquisition of disciplinary expertise. This article explores the possibility of teaching interdiciplinarity to undergraduate students who have not yet mastered or are in the process of mastering a discipline or disciplines. It focuses on junior-year students in the Whittier Scholars…

Accepting Newell's invitation to develop his interdisciplinary theory to address new developments, I first consider Newell's complex systems theory of interdisciplinarity. I then review developments of his theory before critiquing its merits and deficiencies. This critique is informed by recent critical realists' works that point to deficiencies…

An extensional definition of interdisciplinarity--that is, a definition that identifies the types of practices that are interdisciplinary--is explained, advocated, and developed. The criteria for identifying appropriate interdisciplinary practices are outlined. Such a definition is useful both for interdisciplinary teachers and researchers who…

The scholarship of interdisciplinarity provides a potentially powerful response to anti-intellectual and anti-democratic impulses. It recognizes that proof and disproof are generally impossible, and that scientists can be biased in their evaluation of the evidence. Yet it proposes a set of strategies for transcending scholarly disputes in order to…

In the opening credits of the television cult classic "Iron Chef," Chairman Kaga takes a huge bite out of a big yellow bell pepper. With the ensuing smirk on his face, he introduces the famous "Kitchen Stadium," which he notes is his "dream in a form never seen before." What follows is a learning experience in which…

Scholars trained and credentialed in disciplines have a vast array of response options when challenged to engage with others from other disciplinary backgrounds. By considering the ways in which disciplines are like cultures and putting acculturation theory squarely into the domain of interdisciplinary studies, this article takes a new look at…

Though overlooked or at best implicit in "A Crucible Moment," interdisciplinary studies has much to contribute to civic learning for democratic engagement. The article organizes those contributions into the report's categories of knowledge, values, and skills. It concludes with an example of how techniques used in interdisciplinary…