Experiencing Interdisciplinarity
This method encourages participants to explore the connections between different academic disciplines by analyzing a real-world example and creating a conceptual map. It helps foster a holistic understanding of complex problems and develop interdisciplinary thinking skills.
Use this method when you want participants to understand the value of interdisciplinary collaboration and develop skills in integrating knowledge from different fields to address complex challenges.
Solves: Siloed thinking, lack of cross-functional understanding, inability to see the bigger picture
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Step 1: News Article Exploration (5 mins) - Ask participants to share a newspaper article demonstrating connections between at least three distinct academic fields. Have them identify and document the disciplines involved.
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Step 2: Unraveling Interdisciplinarity (10 mins) - Guide participants to explore concepts and themes that are significant across the identified disciplines. Encourage them to create a conceptual map highlighting connections and pinpointing intersections among themes.
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Step 3: Interactive Discussion (20 mins) - Have participants team up and present their interconnected concept maps and identified themes. Facilitate a discussion using guiding questions about discipline discovery, noteworthy links, key themes, and contributions to problem understanding.
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Step 4: Refining Connections (15 mins) - Encourage participants to fine-tune their concept maps and enhance their themes based on insights gained from peer discussions. Allow them to modify, expand, or reorganize their maps.
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Step 5: Putting Interdisciplinarity into Perspective (10 mins) - Engage participants in a thoughtful discussion, evaluating their process of interconnecting disciplines and assessing their perspective skills. Facilitate small group discussions for sharing learnings.
- Provide a sample newspaper article to get participants started.
- Encourage participants to think broadly and creatively about the connections between disciplines.
- Ensure that all participants have the opportunity to share their insights and perspectives.
- Use a case study or real-world problem instead of a newspaper article.
- Have participants create a presentation or report summarizing their findings.
- Invite experts from different disciplines to participate in the discussion.