Modern social problems are complex, multifaceted, and challenging to solve. Scholars are increasinglyapplying the concept of social innovation as a path to addressing social issues. Social innovation is aninterdisciplinary framework for producing social change that requires creativity, problem-solvingskills, and collaboration across systems.…

Graduate education advances students' competencies and skills to prepare them as professionals and should provide various learning experiences to support their development as socially responsible professionals who meet role expectations. Learning experiences that support the development of students' professionalism are discussed in the research,…

This instructional article describes recent implementations of ethics education in a teacher education course at a large university in the Southwest United States. Using a case analysis framework in tandem with a principle-based ethics schema, a teacher educator and his research assistant designed five content interventions for their content area…

This article describes a year-long doctoral course on ethnographic case study research in which a communities of practice approach helped non-traditional students manage the challenging identity negotiations of entering a new academic field. Co-taught by faculty in two disciplines--Rhetoric and Composition and Teaching, Learning, and Culture--the…

Quantitative reasoning and interdisciplinary skills are central to real-world environmental problem solving. Enhancing those skills for students in environmental programs will help them succeed as future environmental professionals. This paper describes an approach that uses an applied geophysical imaging course to enhance quantitative reasoning…

The aim of this article is to discuss a portfolio of interventions used to improve student outcomes in an accredited southeastern university's baccalaureate nursing program. Faculty identified three specific student-focused issues challenging student learning: (a) a steady trend of increasing student enrollment, (b) increased difficulty level of…

In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) called for more interdisciplinary and community-engaged approaches to teaching and learning in the agricultural and life sciences to better respond to the food system challenges of the 21st century. As a result, institutions from across the nation have responded with a number of experiential learning…

A cross-disciplinary team of composition, communication, and library faculty used lesson study to investigate interdisciplinary instructional strategies to improve students' use of quoting in their writing. The team developed a three-class lesson plan to introduce the concept of quoting, practice the concept, and allow students to reflect on their…

The integration of co-teaching across disciplines in higher education is an approach that enhances the learning experience for both students and faculty. The process of examining material from the perspective of two disciplines contributes to critical thinking skills beyond traditional pedagogical approaches. This article presents a model for…

In the present article, we will reflect on some didactic challenges and possibilities that emerge when teaching in interdisciplinary settings, and we will use and discuss the journey as a metaphor for learning. We argue that teaching in interdisciplinary studies rests on movements between different understandings, and that it gives ample…

Previous research has highlighted the effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in multiple disciplinary settings, including medicine, teacher education, business, allied health, and the social sciences. Yet interdisciplinary educators have very little information about how to implement PBL in classrooms where multiple disciplines are…

Educators are increasingly aware of the importance of sustainability and the need to educate for sustainable change within higher education. This article addresses the growing need to focus on how teaching and learning can be re-oriented towards sustainability, and more specifically how educators can effectively address increasingly well-known…