Abstract:

Interdisciplinary competence is important in academia, employability and sustainable development. However, to date, there are no specific interdisciplinary education models and, naturally, no empirical studies to assess them. The following contribution provides an answer to the question on how to successfully design interdisciplinary learning by presenting results of four studies.

In line with the theoretical principle of constructive alignment (Biggs & Tang, 2011), to enhance students’ competence development, one should choose appropriate teaching methods and assessments. In regard to the pragmatic-constructionist theory on interdisciplinary learning by Boix Mansilla (2016), four instructional principles should be implemented within a successful interdisciplinary teaching-learning environment: interdisciplinary purpose, disciplinary grounding, leveraging integrations and a critical stance.

Study one presents the interdisciplinary teaching-learning environment, interdisciplinary problem based learning (iPBL). Evaluation results indicate a stronger enhancement in students’ knowledge processing, methodology competency, communication competency, and personal competency in iPBL students than in students in monodisciplinary teaching-learning arrangements.

Study two compares students’ interdisciplinary competence development regarding interdisciplinary skills, reflective behavior, and recognition of disciplinary perspectives with results indicating a stronger development in iPBL than in monodisciplinary project-based learning.

Study three presents a pretest-posttest study on students’ development of interdisciplinary competence, self-awareness, and glocal civic activism indicating a higher development of these criteria in interdisciplinary service-learning than in a monodisciplinary comparison cohort.

Study four presents a grounded theory analysis on students’ learning strategies in interdisciplinary student-initiated projects. Besides finding common ground, it is crucial to invest time and patience, adapt professional languages, share information and educate oneself, build a friendship, differentiate between person and discipline and deploy a professional moderator.

An overall discussion will provide a conclusion and theoretical and practical implications.

Keywords:

Interdisciplinary Learning, Interdisciplinary Problem-based Learning, Interdisciplinary Project-based Learning, Interdisciplinary Service Learning.