Seven years ago we were asked, as one of our first teaching duties at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), to teach a 5 ECTS point course on "Colloid and Surface Chemistry". The topic is itself at the same time exciting and demanding, largely due to its multidisciplinary nature. Several "local" requirements posed…

Since 2001, the International Institute of Women in Engineering (IIWE) at EPF, Ecole d'ingenieurs generaliste, Sceaux, France, has conducted a 3 week short course for culturally and discipline diverse, recently graduated and final year engineering students. The aim of this course is to introduce young engineers to broad global concepts and issues…

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…

A diverse range of social structures, for instance teacher teams, professional communities and teacher learning communities, are established to advance collaboration among teachers. In Norway, Interdisciplinary Teacher Teams (ITTs) have become a common way of organising teachers in schools, recommended in a national curriculum reform in 1997. This…

This article addresses multi-disciplinary writing groups in supporting writing for publication for higher degree by research candidates in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Drawing on focus group discussions with postgraduate research students from the Faculty of Arts at Monash University in Australia who participated in the writing…

This article describes how faculty provided opportunities for urban high school students to develop literacy proficiencies in reading, writing, and technology. The 12 students participating in an on-campus summer program completed four projects using technology. The faculty collected and reviewed a variety of sources to gain insights into the…

The author conducted a 3-week qualitative case study at the School of Environmental Studies (SES), a senior public school with an environmental studies focus. He argues that SES's physical design facilitates collaborative, multidisciplinary teaching practices especially suited to the school's environmental studies curriculum. He also shows that…

This study examined an interdisciplinary scientific research project to understand how graduate and undergraduate honors students learn to do science. It was found that the education of the students occurs as part of an apprenticeship. The apprenticeship takes place in research groups. In general, research groups are structured in two ways:…

To avoid the "ignorance explosion," educators will have to think more seriously about interdisciplinary learning. (Author/PF)

Author proposes an interdisciplinary approach through which the substitute teacher can utilize his knowledge of his field of specialization by relating it to the subject area to which he has been assigned. (Author/MB)

The "Communication in the Disciplines" (Dannels, 2001) framework suggests that communication norms, genres, and standards for success are situated and disciplinary. In this introductory essay, I explore complexities that accompany a "communication in the disciplines" identity in practice--adopting a mindset of curiosity, an ability to listen…

For the nearly 2 million children in the United States whose parents are in prison, caretaking necessary for optimal development is disrupted. These vulnerable youth--a population that has shot up 80 percent in the last 20 years--are more likely to experience learning difficulties, poor health, and substance abuse, and eventually be incarcerated…

This qualitative study used focus groups to identify the knowledge about the "Arts du Cirque" Program implemented in a primary school and to explore perceptions of its impacts. Data are based on the discourse of school staff members, parents and other members of the community of an elementary school. The impacts on students are…

Despite greater responsibility for creating equitable and inclusive classroom models, some research suggests that educators "may not have the necessary attitudes, dispositions, or perhaps more important, the professional skills to successfully instruct students in diverse, inclusive classrooms" (Van Laarhoven, Munk, Lynch, Bosman & Rouse, 2007, p.…