The article profiles a project addressing a central issue in reform-driven STEM education--the need to align educational experiences with real-world STEM. The interdisciplinary program aimed for authenticity by purposefully designing an authentic PBL project and incorporating STEM professionals as volunteer facilitators. These volunteers enhanced…

Supporters of project-based learning (PBL) argue that outcomes from the model include better performance in academic (Bell, 2010; Thomas, 2000) and non-academic outcomes (Saunders-Steward, Gyles, & Shore, 2010). The New Tech Network (NTN) is a school improvement network that provides training and development for high school faculty who commit…

Interdisciplinary competence is important in academia for both employability and sustainable development. However, to date, there are no specific interdisciplinary education models and, naturally, no empirical studies to assess them. Since problem-based learning (PBL) and project-based learning (PjBL) are learning approaches that emphasize…

This article describes the implementation of an interdisciplinary design studio as a means to teach creative problem-solving through project-based learning. "Learning and Innovation Skills" has been designated as a core skill that students need to be successful in today's world, and project-based learning is one approach to helping…

Empathy and interdisciplinarity are both concepts that are current and relevant--across professions, in research, and in academia. This paper describes a large, interdisciplinary, project-based assignment, the Empathy Project, which allows students to delve into and increase comfort and skill with interdisciplinary thinking and collaborative…