Interdisciplinary Studies

Making Sense of the Future integrates the latest thinking in Future Studies with the author's expertise in world history, economics, interdisciplinary studies, knowledge organization, and political activism. The book takes a systems approach that recognizes the complexity of our world. It begins by suggesting a set of goals for human societies and identifying innovative strategies for achieving these goals that could gain broad support. Each chapter begins with a "How to" section that discusses how we can identify goals, strategies, trends, surprises, or implementation strategies and concludes with an integrative analysis that draws connections across the preceding discussions. Taking a cross-disciplinary approach, Szostak explores key trends and how these interact so that he can develop strategies to guide trends towards desirable futures. He discusses the ways in which we can best prepare for surprises such as epidemics and natural disasters, enabling us to react to them in beneficial ways. Supported by a list of guiding questions and suggestions for class projects, this is an accessible textbook for students of Future Studies and Future Studies courses. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution- Non Commercial- No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Making Sense of World Historyis a comprehensive and accessible textbook that helps students understand the key themes of world history within a chronological framework stretching from ancient times to the present day. To lend coherence to its narrative, the book employs a set of organizing devices that connect times, places, and/or themes. This narrative is supported by: Flowcharts that show how phenomena within diverse broad themes interact in generating key processes and events in world history. A discussion of the common challenges faced by different types of agent, including rulers, merchants, farmers, and parents, and a comparison of how these challenges were addressed in different times and places. An exhaustive and balanced treatment of themes such as culture, politics, and economy with an emphasis on interaction. Explicit attention to skill acquisition in organizing information, cultural sensitivity, comparison, visual literacy, integration, interrogating primary sources, and critical thinking. A focus on historical "episodes" that are carefully related to each other. Through the use of such devices, the book shows the cumulative effect of thematic interactions through time, communicates the many ways in which societies have influenced each other through history, and allows us to compare and contrast how they have reacted to similar challenges. They also allow the reader to transcend historical controversies and can be used to stimulate class discussions and guide student assignments. With a unified authorial voice and offering a narrative from the ancient to the present, this is the go-to textbook for World History courses and students.

The Second Edition of Interdisciplinary Research: Process and Theory reflects the substantial research on all aspects of interdisciplinarity that has been published since the appearance of the First Edition in 2008. How to do interdisciplinary research is no longer the neglected topic that it once was. This book also reflects feedback from faculty and students who have used the first edition. As in the previous edition, the goal is to provide a comprehensive and systematic presentation of the interdisciplinary research process and the theory that informs it for not only students, but also for individual mature scholars and interdisciplinary teams. The book emphasizes the relationship between theory, research, and practice in an orderly framework so that the reader can more easily understand the nature of the interdisciplinary research process.

Completely updated to reflect advances in the literature on research, learning, and assessment, this book describes the role of both disciplines and interdisciplinarity within the academy, and how these have evolved. Authors Allen F. Repko, Rick Szostak, and Michelle Phillips Buchberger effectively show students how to think like interdisciplinarians in order to facilitate their working with topics, complex problems, or themes that span multiple disciplines. New to the third edition are guiding questions at the start of each chapter, a discussion of the public policy issue of "basic income" as an example at the end of each chapter, application of interdisciplinary techniques in daily life, enhanced discussion of ethical decision-making, and updated examples and references throughout.

Interdisciplinary approach in education

One of the major areas of emphasis in academia in recent years has been interdisciplinary research, a trend that promises new insights and innovations rooted in cross-disciplinary collaboration. This book is designed to help students understand the tools required for stepping beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries and applying knowledge and insights from multiple fields. Relentlessly focused on practical applications, the book will enable students to plan and execute their own interdisciplinary research projects.

Self-contained case studies teach students best practices in interdisciplinary research Interdisciplinary research is a burgeoning field, largely due to its ability to tackle complex problems facing humanity that extend beyond a single disciplinary perspective and require interdisciplinary thinking and research for their resolution.Case Studies in Interdisciplinary Research successfully applies the model of the interdisciplinary research process outlined by author Allen F. Repko in Interdisciplinary Research, (SAGE ©2008) to a wide spectrum of challenging research questions. Self-contained case studies, written by leaders in interdisciplinary research, and utilizing best-practice techniques in conducting interdisciplinary research shows students how to apply the interdisciplinary research process to a variety of problems.

This collection of essays first highlights the popularity of interdisciplinary undergraduate studies and their recent gains in the world of higher education, and then addresses the paradoxical failure of these studies to achieve a permanent position in the curricula of individual universities and colleges. This question and its attendant issues are explored in three ways: an overview of how these changes are affected by the political economy, case studies from actual universities and colleges, and, a discussion of the new ways undergraduates are educated through the use of interdisciplinary studies.

Resources for interdisciplinary studies (IDS) appear in a multitude of print publications, online forums, and the "fugitive" or "gray" literature of conference papers, reports, and curriculum materials. The quantity is not surprising, since interdisciplinary discussions have expanded as new fields and approaches emerged across all domains of research and education. This review is aimed at helping faculty, curriculum committees, and administrators find resources for course design and teaching, with emphasis on works that have appeared in the past 10 years. Part I defines a basic collection of materials; Part II deepens the search for more specialized resources; and Part III highlights important new print and Web-based material with an emphasis on the past five years.

The study of culture in the American academy is not confined to a single field, but is a broad-based set of interests located within and across disciplines. This book investigates the relationship among three major ideas in the American academy--interdisciplinarity, humanities, and culture--and traces the convergence of these ideas from the colonial college to new scholarly developments in the latter half of the twentieth century. Its aim is twofold: to define the changing relationship of these three ideas and, in the course of doing so, to extend present thinking about the concept of "American cultural studies." The book includes two sets of case studies--the first on the implications of interdisciplinarity for literary studies, art history, and music; the second on the shifting trajectories of American studies, African American studies, and women's studies--and concludes by asking what impact new scholarly practices have had on humanities education, particularly on the undergraduate curriculum.

Interdisciplinary approach in education

According to this book, interdisciplinary pedagogy is not synonymous with a single process, set of skills, method, or technique. Instead, it is concerned primarily with fostering in students a sense of self-authorship and a notion of knowledge that they can use to respond to complex questions, issues, or problems. Most faculty members have disciplinary terminal degrees, little preparation for teaching, and previous experience learning and teaching solely in disciplinary classroom settings. This collection is designed to assist both new and experienced faculty members who are teaching in interdisciplinary settings and who want to advance integrative learning with their students, as well as administrators who want to encourage integrative and interdisciplinary teaching in their institutions. The contributors offer many intriguing approaches for achieving the goals of interdisciplinary pedagogy. Interdisciplinary pedagogy is not necessarily a single process, set of skills, method, or technique. Instead, Haynes asserts, it is purpose-oriented, concerned primarily with fostering in students a sense of self-authorship and offering a notion of knowledge that students can draw upon when responding to complex questions, issues, or problems. Most faculty members have disciplinary terminal degrees and scant preparation for teaching. Previous experience is often from learning and teaching solely in disciplinary classroom settings. This collection is designed to assist both new and experienced faulty members who need help teaching in interdisciplinary settings. The major subject divisions included in this book are: BL Standard ApproachesBL Innovative ApproachesBL Applying One Disciplinary-Based PedagogyBL Different Settings or Different StudentsBL Support For teachers seeking to advance integrative learning with their students, as well as administrators who wish to encourage integrative and interdisciplinary teaching in their institutions, Haynes offers intriguing, practical approaches for achieving the goals of this increasingly popular pedagogy.

This volume of New Directions for Teaching and Learning is a practical compendium of advice and information on the development, administration, and assessment of interdisciplinary studies programs and schools. A bibliographic orientation to hands-on access, including electronic retrieval of information, precedes chapters reviewing the design of interdisciplinary courses, and how the role of administrators in interdisciplinary programs can further institutitonal goals. The final chapter looks beyond the local campus to national and international support networks. The contributors, who share their extensive experience in the teaching and administration of interdisciplinary studies, provide many examples of good (and bad) praxis. This is the 58th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Teaching and Learning.

In this volume, Julie Klein provides the first comprehensive study of the modern concept of interdisciplinarity, supplementing her discussion with the most complete bibliography yet compiled on the subject. Spanning the social sciences, natural sciences, humanities, and professions, her study is a synthesis of existing scholarship on interdisciplinary research, education and health care. Klein argues that any interdisciplinary activity embodies a complex network of historical, social, psychological, political, economic, philosophical, and intellectual factors. Whether the context is a short-ranged instrumentality or a long-range reconceptualization of the way we know and learn, the concept of interdisciplinarity is an important means of solving problems and answering questions that cannot be satisfactorily addressed using singular methods or approaches.