Nationally, there is a steadily increasing emphasis on the improvement of STEM education. This includes the integration of STEM subjects that have been traditionally taught separately, making it critical that prospective STEM educators are equipped to teach using integrated STEM approaches. Connected, an important challenge is providing preservice…

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is an increasingly popular interdisciplinary pedagogy. In this chapter, we discuss its roots, benefits, and potential trade-offs and give practical advice applicable to a variety of academic disciplines.

With recent increased interest in and efforts to reform and revitalize general education curricula to make an educational experience more vital and germane, many institutions have become interested in incorporating interdisciplinary learning opportunities, or even in creating fully interdisciplinary programs. In order to address the growing need…

Teaching undergraduate science courses through the lens of local community issues has the potential to help students connect more strongly to the sciences and to the communities near the university. In considering the construction of such courses, it is clear that even community issues that have strong science cores--water quality, viral and…

Mathematics teachers are frequently looking for real-life applications and meaningful integration of mathematics and other content areas. Many genuinely seek to reach out to students and help them make connections between the often abstract topics taught in school. In this article the author presents ideas on integrating literature and mathematics…

A growing number of Introductory Physics for Life Sciences courses have been developed to prepare biology, premedicine, and prehealth majors for cross-disciplinary connections between physical principles and biological systems. Many students find it challenging to apply idealized algebra-based general physics to more complex biological systems. A…

This study explores a multimodal approach to teaching contemporary Chinese culture to foster university students' intercultural awareness and intercultural communication competence via a third space. Two universities in the UK took part in the study where the course contents moved from static notions of culture-as-fact in terms of national…

One of the most effective methods for teaching social studies events, concepts, and issues incorporates the fine arts into lesson plans. The fine arts, such as photography, architecture, paintings, tapestries, and sculptures reflect the core cultural values, political ideals, and religious beliefs of a civilization and offer excellent…

This study examines the impact of interdisciplinary teacher collaboration on English-medium instruction (EMI) teachers' professional development in higher education. Five content teachers from a variety of academic backgrounds jointly designed, developed and implemented an interdisciplinary EMI course at a private university in Taiwan. Based on…

This article examines how students' subject knowledge acquired in short-term international courses (SICs) developed while engaging in university studies in the year following their SICs. It also explores factors associated with their engagement and disengagement. Two interviews with a 1-year interval with 25 students revealed their transformations…

This paper presents an attempt to apply Jacques Rancière's emancipatory pedagogy of "the ignorant schoolmaster" to environmental education, which emphasises environmental ethics. The paper tells the story of a philosophy of nature project in the framework of an environmental adult education course at a Second Chance School in Greece,…

This article focuses on an article by William H. Newell (2001): "A Theory of Interdisciplinary Studies" ("Issues in Integrative Studies," 19, pp. 1-25). It explores the spatial and temporal dimensions in the architecture of urban form, applying the essential inquiry process that begins in sensory experience. This process of…

The narrow teaching of writing that had been common in schools for hundreds of years was challenged in the 1980s by 'one of the most seductive writers in the history of writing pedagogy'. Donald Graves's process approach to writing, as it came to be known, was popular in Australia, New Zealand, USA and the UK. At the heart of Graves's approach was…

Academic administrators are witnessing unprecedented assaults on national humanities funding that would have been unthinkable three decades ago. Many, if not most, academic administrators and policy makers now view the cornerstone of liberal arts education as an educational anachronism, obsolete intellectualism that holds neither import nor…

The authors represent the life cycle of the butterfly through writing, drawing, dance, and math. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (NGSS Lead States 2013) emphasize college and career readiness as well as critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Students must develop a deep understanding of science concepts and engage in scientific…