Purpose: This research is an interview-based study that captures the academics' perspectives toward the planning and design of an interdisciplinary General Education Curriculum for undergraduate students in the Chinese context, using the Common Core Curriculum at the University of Hong Kong as a case study. Design/Approach/Methods: A total of 28…

This article introduces the reader to the Unified Core Curriculum model developed and implemented at the University of Georgia (UGA). Four courses are taught as one course to the juniors coming into the Recreation and Leisure Studies major. An overview of the blended course and sample assignments are provided, as well as a discussion of challenges…

The integration of one's curriculum is an approach to education that ignores subject-matter lines of delineation, thus allowing faculty to bring together the separate pieces of a curriculum into a coherent whole that facilitates meaningful associations across subject matter. Before taking on the challenge of curriculum integration, faculty…

Effective public policy education must prepare students both to integrate the lessons of multiple disciplines and to apply these across diverse substantive areas. How can these objectives best be accomplished? Research on adult learning and professional education points toward applied, problem-based, cooperative, and student-driven pedagogy. This…

The discipline of education is a multi-faceted system that must constantly integrate new strategies and procedures to ensure successful learning experiences. Enhancements in education provide learners with greater opportunities for growth and advancement. "Open Learning and Formal Credentialing in Higher Education: Curriculum Models and…

One shortcoming of the academic curriculum is its tendency to emphasize the integrity of the separate subjects and to neglect, even ignore, connections between and among subjects as well as between students' academic experiences and those beyond school. Unfortunately, evidence indicates that recent high school students, who have completed more…

The purposes of this paper are a) to present tentative statements based upon a synthesis of the research in the area of interdisciplinary education, b) to present some implications for professional behavior based upon these tentative statements, and c) to present some testable questions which need to be researched in order to solidify or modify…

A wide range of biotechnological and biomedical processes and products involves the design, synthesis, and analysis of biological interfaces. Such biointerfaces mediate interactions between living cells or intracellular species and designed materials or biologics. Incorporating the experiences of a NSF-­sponsored IGERT (Integrative Graduate…

A literature review of the development of the information technology (IT) curriculum in recent decades in Hong Kong reveals that the aim of the curriculum has shifted from Computer Studies to the development of information literacy (IL). Based on a survey of all schools in Hong Kong and in response to the demand for IL in society, a curriculum…

Described and assessed is the Interdepartmental Program in Engineering at the University of Rochester which allows engineering students the opportunity to design their own curriculum. (SL)

The reputed merits of the interdisciplinary curriculum movement are explored in this collection of works by leading educators. Context is laid out in the introduction, "When Theory Meets Practice in the World of School," by Pam Grossman, Sam Wineburg, and Scott Beers. The chapters are as follows: (1) "On Disciplinary Lenses and…

Documents the emergence of interdisciplinary curriculum organization patterns as viable alternatives to the subject-centered curriculum field in the United States during the first half of the 20th century. Early 20th-century approaches to the elementary curriculum included the project method, the experience curriculum, and the activity movement.…

It is argued in this paper that the interdisciplinary course provides a setting for viewing the ordered relationships that exist among disciplines. The necessity of this approach is pointed out as it reflects the need for a highly disarticulated curriculum to address and find solutions to the complex problems facing the world community. A…

Describes an interdisciplinary humanities curriculum developed by a consortium of three community colleges. The curriculum consists of a general core course based on the classical humanistic studies of history, philosophy, and the fine arts and three "optional" courses designed to appeal to special interest students. (DC)

Describes a model used at Japan's Hokkaido University to integrate general and specialized education. For undergraduate study, the common core curriculum is supported by an interdisciplinary education system offering the essence of each specialized field abstracted and reorganized for non-specialized students. Graduate study is more flexible. (EV)