Abstract:

Science-teaching is essential to the Liberal Education Program at the University of Lethbridge, a research-based university. This paper discusses the role of interdisciplinary science in the curriculum requirements of Liberal Education 4000, the capstone course both for our program and the Bachelor’s Degree. This paper, which expands on findings published previously, discusses interdisciplinary treatments of recent science texts that we have used in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and the new redeployment of our Program as a campus-wide Interdisciplinary School at the University of Lethbridge, which is scheduled to launch in July 2017. [1]

In this team taught course, two professors from different fields (Humanities and Social Science) teach students whose majors typically represent all areas of study in our B.A. Degree. We encourage the students to investigate interconnections between our texts and our individual points of view as a group and to think syncretistically about the value of knowledge beyond disciplinary confines. This approach enhances conceptual rigor and innovation. As a capstone course, it engages with the 21st century pedagogical thinking that hopes to renovate academic accreditation in ways that help graduates apply to the job market with flexible and innovative skills. The paper will also explore the reasons why this course has led the way to our University’s decision to expand the Program (housed in the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Arts and Science) into a School (housed in the Office of the President), which will serve all students in every faculty. The paper will refer specifically to how the seminar has responded in recent years to new science texts and ideas that, as is the case regularly, are located within an interdisciplinary framework. [2]

References:
[1] “Making Meaningfulness in the Classroom: Inter-disciplinary Science in Liberal Education.” New Perspectives in Science Proceedings. March 20-21, 2015.
[2] Marcelo Gleiser. The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning. Basic Books, 2014. Lisa Randall. Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe. Ecco, 2015. E.O. Wilson. The Meaning of Human Existence. Liveright (WW Norton), 2014. Carlo Rovelli Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. Riverhead, 2015.

Keywords:

Interdisciplinarity, science, humanities, liberal education, innovation, case-study.