Theorizing WPA expertise as problem-oriented, stakeholder-inclusive practice, we apply the twenty-first-century paradigm of transdisciplinarity to a campus WID Initiative to read and argue that data-driven research capturing transdisciplinary WPA methods in action will allow us to better understand, represent, and leverage…

How can the best of mathematical problem-based learning be applied toward literature classes? Daniel Sussman, an English teacher at Moorestown Friends School in New Jersey, discusses how he uses problem solving tactics to encourage close, critical reading of fiction texts in his Jewish literature and poetry classes. He explores the challenges of…

Recently, the Modern Language Association (MLA) has called for proposals on the "greening" of the Spanish curriculum for their 2020 convention. University students are and will be faced with complex twenty-first-century economic problems, such as food deserts, costs of industrial agriculture, organic regulations and market demand,…

Although many fields of study are increasingly promoting awareness of the need to protect the ecosystem by thinking and acting "green," the concept of environmental education actually has a long history; for example, concerns about global environmental problems were discussed at a 1972 United Nations Conference (Nkwetisama 2011), which…

In this article, the authors explore the corpus of literature on creative thinking and applied creativity in higher education to help composition teacher-scholars and writing center practitioners improve the application of creativity in written, visual, and multimodal composing practices. From studies of creative thinking investigated across…

Involving two or more academic subjects, interdisciplinary studies aim to blend together broad perspectives, knowledge, skills, and epistemology in an educational setting. By focusing on topics or questions too broad for a single discipline to cover, these studies strive to draw connections between seemingly different fields. Cases on…

Reports on an experimental enterprise in which a writing course and a mathematics course were linked together so that writing was incorporated into mathematics instruction and problem solving was emphasized in writing instruction. Describes two writing assignments and two mathematic assignments. Contains student responses to the assignments. (TB)

A sociologist and a writing instructor developed a college level human ecology course that stresses problem solving and written communication. The emphasis on thinking and writing skills increased student ability to identify, resolve, and communicate issues in sociology. (Author/RM)

The writing done in a biology class has a great deal in common with the writing done in the humanities and the social sciences. Because the scientific method of investigation requires the student to examine and understand the physical world by asking questions and then answering them through empirical investigation, clear and concise writing is…

Rhetoric and mathematics have much in common that can help explain the composing process. Common elements of rhetoric and mathematics important to the teaching of writing are (1) relationships between syntax and semantics, (2) practices of representation, and (3) focus on problem solving. Recent emphasis on "repair processes" in mathematics is…

A new core curriculum at Newmann College (Pennsylvania) aims to provide liberal learning through cross-disciplinary instruction without destroying the identity of specific content areas. The Collaborative Probing Model (CPM) provides a basis for the kind of creative self-control that will lead to flexible work within and between disciplines. This…

Reviews current theories of language teaching and learning. Considers thinking and problem solving as the impetus to linguistic growth and change. Encourages teachers to devise genuine problem solving tasks for young children that begin by observing/examining and end in expression through writing. (RL)

Critical thinking skills were taught to students in a lower-track freshman English class through the use of cross-disciplinary subject matter. Given a set of three transmission electron micrographs, or photographs of magnified tissue used in histology and pathology, students were asked to support their conclusions on which two of micrographs A, B,…

Both curricular reformers and writing specialists believe a connection exists between critical thinking and writing, however two obstacles have prevented any conclusion from emerging. One is that there is no established shared understanding of what "critical thinking" means. The other is that no one knows how to measure it, even though…

Intended for use by college and university educators, this book contains theoretical ideas and practical activities designed to enhance and promote writing across the curriculum programs. Topics discussed in the 12 major chapters are (1) conceptual frameworks of the cross writing program; (2) journal writing across the curriculum; (3) writing and…