Interdisciplinary Problem
Defining the problem:
The increasingly complex problems in our world often require an interdisciplinary approach, but our educational system is stuck in an inflexible schema of narrowly defined silos (Bear, 2019). To make matters worse, there is no universally agreed upon framework for understanding interdisciplinarity as a field; some of the terms and definitions for the field (such as interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary) are used interchangeably by those outside of the field (Miles, 2015).
Many schools have been working to implement programs in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and/or STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) that seem interdisciplinary at the core, but teachers struggle to adapt to this model as they are typically trained to work within a specific discipline (Wang, 2020). Schools seem reluctant to label STEM/STEAM as being interdisciplinarity – perhaps hoping that they can sneak it into mono-disciplinarity without teachers even knowing?
Interdisciplinarity is needed but will be complicated to implement within the current K12 model where separate, distinct disciplines are the norm. K12 education is currently fixated on preparing students for college, so they will follow the lead of colleges and universities (Lim, 2019). Colleges and universities are financially motivated by publications and research opportunities that are typically focused within specific disciplines. Indeed, Bromham point out that interdisciplinary grants are not awarded as often as grants tied to specific disciplines; this is credited to a greater difficulty in understanding interdisciplinary projects as a review board would have to be able to understand the project from the perspectives of multiple disciplines (Bromham, 2016).
We must create spaces within learning environments for children and youth for interdisciplinary practices to flourish (Lim, 2019). Before we can create these spaces, however, we need to have a better understanding of the terminology and definitions, and this is the problem I wish to address.
Stakeholders & Perspectives:
Parents, administrators, educators, curriculum developers, business leaders, and elected officials all have a stake in educational outcomes. These diverse perspectives must be considered, and they are not all straightforward. The motivations driving these stakeholders will play a huge role in implementing changes within our educational system; the $2 Billion spent on educational lobbying over the past twenty years demonstrate exactly how high the stakes are (Marsicano, 2020). Parents want their children to be well-educated and happy with real prospects; businesses want workers equipped to fill specific roles (Carnevale, 2013); curriculum developers want to stay in business; local governments want a cost-effective plan; and an elected official may wish to exert influence by acting on a well-meaning impulse to do something (Davis, 2013). Stepping outside of the current mode of teaching by subject areas threatens to collapse an entire house of cards.
An educational system that serves families, communities, and nations is a huge undertaking, but that should be the goal of any system. It has become glaringly obvious that the systems we have are only serving some families and some communities, much to the detriment of nations. Leaders within the BIPOC/minority communities are key stakeholders who voices must be heard. (Hill, 2017)
Children are, of course, the ultimate stakeholders in their own futures. The best available information in neuroscience, learning, and mental health must also be considered before implementing educational reforms. It is impossible to know what the future will hold, but we must responsibly prepare children for the journey that lies ahead.
My Experience & Expertise:
I have been swimming in interdisciplinary waters since 1994, possibly longer. I am a working artist with a personal interdisciplinarity grounded in education, art, and art history. It is important to understand that my background is not centered on art education, but rather education and art as separate disciplines that, for me, collide in arts integration, or learning by combining artistic practices with another discipline (i.e. science, history, language arts, etc…).
My primary artistic practice is as a puppetry artist, which I came to through an apprenticeship with a Master Puppeteer. I founded my own touring company in 1997 and wear many hats: I write scripts, build puppets, perform, direct performers, construct sets, and create props. I also coordinate touring performances and develop supplemental educational materials and programming for museums, theatres, and schools. I regularly partner with nonprofit organizations. My arts practice solidly intersects the business world.
I have been working alongside educators as a teaching artist for over a decade in schools, libraries, theatres, museums, and community centers. I have worked in rural, urban, and suburban regions in communities ranging from ultra-wealthy to severely impoverished. My work with over a thousand private schools, public schools, parochial schools, and homeschool families has provided me with a unique window into a variety of learning spaces.
Urgency:
Our educational system is in a state of crisis. The verdict is in that today’s students are not prepared to meet the needs of an economy centered on communication, critical thinking, creativity, technology, and innovation (Carnavale, 2013).
The need for change is education is urgent. Businesses concur that youth today are not adequately prepared to join the workforce (Carnavale, 2013). This lack is compounded by global issues such as climate change, global pandemics, healthcare, world hunger, and poverty that cannot be solved by a single discipline. We need to understand how to engage with others and work together within the realms of interdisciplinary knowledge, research, education, and theory.
References:
Bear, A., & Skorton, D. (2019). The World Needs Students with Interdisciplinary Education: When students can understand and make connections across a diverse array of knowledge and skills, they embark on a path to more rewarding lives and employment opportunities. Higher education can and must do a better job of leading the way out of disciplinary silos. Issues in Science and Technology, 35(2), 60+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A570439711/GRNR?u=viva_vcu&sid=GRNR&xid=2bb10d13
Bromham, L., Dinnage, R., & Hua, X. (2016). Interdisciplinary research has consistently lower funding success. Nature (London), 534(7609), 684–687. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature18315
Carnevale, A.P., & Smith, N (2013). Workplace basics: the skills employees need and employers want. Human Resource Development International, 16(5), 491–501. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2013.821267
Davis, Michelle R. (2013). Ed. Companies Exert Public-Policy Influence; Some observers are alarmed at what they see as increasingly aggressive moves by companies. Education Week, 32(29), s2.
Hill, N.E., Jeffries,J.R., & Murray, K.P. (2017). New Tools for Old Problems. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 674(1), 113–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716217730618
Lim, T. (2019, March). Educating for the Future: The Power of Interdisciplinary Spaces [Video]. TEDxYouth@SHC Conference. https://www.ted.com/talks/theresa_lim_educating_for_the_future_the_power_of_interdisciplinary_spaces
Marsicano, C. R., & Brooks, C. (2020). Professor Smith Goes to Washington: Educational Interest Group Lobbying, 1998–2017. Educational Researcher, 49(6), 448–453. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20921845
Miles, M., & Rainbird, S. (2015). Evaluating interdisciplinary collaborative learning and assessment in the creative arts and humanities. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 14(4), 409–425. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474022214561759
Razzaq, Jamila, J. Pisapia, and T. Townsend. "Towards an understanding of interdisciplinarity: The case of a British university." Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies 31 (2013): 149-173. https://our.oakland.edu/handle/10323/4484
Wang, Hui-Hui, Charoenmuang, Mingla, Knobloch, Neil A, & Tormoehlen, Roger L. (2020). Defining interdisciplinary collaboration based on high school teachers’ beliefs and practices of STEM integration using a complex designed system. International Journal of STEM Education, 7(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-019-0201-4[HR5]
The increasingly complex problems in our world often require an interdisciplinary approach, but our educational system is stuck in an inflexible schema of narrowly defined silos (Bear, 2019). To make matters worse, there is no universally agreed upon framework for understanding interdisciplinarity as a field; some of the terms and definitions for the field (such as interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary) are used interchangeably by those outside of the field (Miles, 2015).
Many schools have been working to implement programs in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and/or STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) that seem interdisciplinary at the core, but teachers struggle to adapt to this model as they are typically trained to work within a specific discipline (Wang, 2020). Schools seem reluctant to label STEM/STEAM as being interdisciplinarity – perhaps hoping that they can sneak it into mono-disciplinarity without teachers even knowing?
Interdisciplinarity is needed but will be complicated to implement within the current K12 model where separate, distinct disciplines are the norm. K12 education is currently fixated on preparing students for college, so they will follow the lead of colleges and universities (Lim, 2019). Colleges and universities are financially motivated by publications and research opportunities that are typically focused within specific disciplines. Indeed, Bromham point out that interdisciplinary grants are not awarded as often as grants tied to specific disciplines; this is credited to a greater difficulty in understanding interdisciplinary projects as a review board would have to be able to understand the project from the perspectives of multiple disciplines (Bromham, 2016).
We must create spaces within learning environments for children and youth for interdisciplinary practices to flourish (Lim, 2019). Before we can create these spaces, however, we need to have a better understanding of the terminology and definitions, and this is the problem I wish to address.
Stakeholders & Perspectives:
Parents, administrators, educators, curriculum developers, business leaders, and elected officials all have a stake in educational outcomes. These diverse perspectives must be considered, and they are not all straightforward. The motivations driving these stakeholders will play a huge role in implementing changes within our educational system; the $2 Billion spent on educational lobbying over the past twenty years demonstrate exactly how high the stakes are (Marsicano, 2020). Parents want their children to be well-educated and happy with real prospects; businesses want workers equipped to fill specific roles (Carnevale, 2013); curriculum developers want to stay in business; local governments want a cost-effective plan; and an elected official may wish to exert influence by acting on a well-meaning impulse to do something (Davis, 2013). Stepping outside of the current mode of teaching by subject areas threatens to collapse an entire house of cards.
An educational system that serves families, communities, and nations is a huge undertaking, but that should be the goal of any system. It has become glaringly obvious that the systems we have are only serving some families and some communities, much to the detriment of nations. Leaders within the BIPOC/minority communities are key stakeholders who voices must be heard. (Hill, 2017)
Children are, of course, the ultimate stakeholders in their own futures. The best available information in neuroscience, learning, and mental health must also be considered before implementing educational reforms. It is impossible to know what the future will hold, but we must responsibly prepare children for the journey that lies ahead.
My Experience & Expertise:
I have been swimming in interdisciplinary waters since 1994, possibly longer. I am a working artist with a personal interdisciplinarity grounded in education, art, and art history. It is important to understand that my background is not centered on art education, but rather education and art as separate disciplines that, for me, collide in arts integration, or learning by combining artistic practices with another discipline (i.e. science, history, language arts, etc…).
My primary artistic practice is as a puppetry artist, which I came to through an apprenticeship with a Master Puppeteer. I founded my own touring company in 1997 and wear many hats: I write scripts, build puppets, perform, direct performers, construct sets, and create props. I also coordinate touring performances and develop supplemental educational materials and programming for museums, theatres, and schools. I regularly partner with nonprofit organizations. My arts practice solidly intersects the business world.
I have been working alongside educators as a teaching artist for over a decade in schools, libraries, theatres, museums, and community centers. I have worked in rural, urban, and suburban regions in communities ranging from ultra-wealthy to severely impoverished. My work with over a thousand private schools, public schools, parochial schools, and homeschool families has provided me with a unique window into a variety of learning spaces.
Urgency:
Our educational system is in a state of crisis. The verdict is in that today’s students are not prepared to meet the needs of an economy centered on communication, critical thinking, creativity, technology, and innovation (Carnavale, 2013).
The need for change is education is urgent. Businesses concur that youth today are not adequately prepared to join the workforce (Carnavale, 2013). This lack is compounded by global issues such as climate change, global pandemics, healthcare, world hunger, and poverty that cannot be solved by a single discipline. We need to understand how to engage with others and work together within the realms of interdisciplinary knowledge, research, education, and theory.
References:
Bear, A., & Skorton, D. (2019). The World Needs Students with Interdisciplinary Education: When students can understand and make connections across a diverse array of knowledge and skills, they embark on a path to more rewarding lives and employment opportunities. Higher education can and must do a better job of leading the way out of disciplinary silos. Issues in Science and Technology, 35(2), 60+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A570439711/GRNR?u=viva_vcu&sid=GRNR&xid=2bb10d13
Bromham, L., Dinnage, R., & Hua, X. (2016). Interdisciplinary research has consistently lower funding success. Nature (London), 534(7609), 684–687. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature18315
Carnevale, A.P., & Smith, N (2013). Workplace basics: the skills employees need and employers want. Human Resource Development International, 16(5), 491–501. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2013.821267
Davis, Michelle R. (2013). Ed. Companies Exert Public-Policy Influence; Some observers are alarmed at what they see as increasingly aggressive moves by companies. Education Week, 32(29), s2.
Hill, N.E., Jeffries,J.R., & Murray, K.P. (2017). New Tools for Old Problems. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 674(1), 113–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716217730618
Lim, T. (2019, March). Educating for the Future: The Power of Interdisciplinary Spaces [Video]. TEDxYouth@SHC Conference. https://www.ted.com/talks/theresa_lim_educating_for_the_future_the_power_of_interdisciplinary_spaces
Marsicano, C. R., & Brooks, C. (2020). Professor Smith Goes to Washington: Educational Interest Group Lobbying, 1998–2017. Educational Researcher, 49(6), 448–453. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20921845
Miles, M., & Rainbird, S. (2015). Evaluating interdisciplinary collaborative learning and assessment in the creative arts and humanities. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 14(4), 409–425. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474022214561759
Razzaq, Jamila, J. Pisapia, and T. Townsend. "Towards an understanding of interdisciplinarity: The case of a British university." Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies 31 (2013): 149-173. https://our.oakland.edu/handle/10323/4484
Wang, Hui-Hui, Charoenmuang, Mingla, Knobloch, Neil A, & Tormoehlen, Roger L. (2020). Defining interdisciplinary collaboration based on high school teachers’ beliefs and practices of STEM integration using a complex designed system. International Journal of STEM Education, 7(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-019-0201-4[HR5]