Interdisciplinary Education in the Age of Assessment addresses a prevalent need in educational scholarship today. Many current standards-driven curricula follow strict subject-specific guidelines, leaving educators little room for interdisciplinary innovation. This book gears itself toward developing assessment models specific to interdisciplinary education, positioning itself as a seminal volume in the field and a valuable resource to educators across the disciplines. Each chapter covers a major subject area (literacy, science, math, social studies, bilingual education, foreign language, educational policy) and discusses methods of assessing integrated/ interdisciplinary curriculum and instruction.

Interdisciplinary Education in the Age of Assessment addresses a prevalent need in educational scholarship today. Many current standards-enforced curricula follow strict subject-specific guidelines. By contrast, this book examines assessment models specific to interdisciplinary education, positioning itself as a seminal volume in the field and a valuable resource to educators across the disciplines looking to broaden their curriculum.

This book addresses the relation between Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and interdisciplinarity and challenges the often implicit assumption that PBL leads to interdisciplinarity by default. The book examines theoretical and philosophical aspects of PBL and interdisciplinary learning. The first part of the book conceptualises the notions of problem-based learning and interdisciplinary learning, and highlights some key overlaps and ways of conceiving of their interrelatedness. It discusses the role of problem-based medical education in relation to interdisciplinary professionalism in medical education. Taking the reader into the realm of techno-anthropology, the book discusses the role of problems and projects in transgressing disciplines, and presents an analysis of three challenges facing new students when entering interdisciplinary and problem-based higher education. The second part of the book focuses on practicing interdisciplinarity in problem-based higher education. It explores how the construction of problems in interdisciplinary PBL projects can be seen from the perspectives of multicultural groups, and examines group processes in interdisciplinary PBL projects. It concludes by taking a closer look at student practices in interdisciplinary PBL, and at how students are positioned and position themselves in the complex transdisciplinary PBL project.

This volume of New Directions for Teaching and Learning is a practical compAndium 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. For more information on the series, please see the Journals and Periodicals page.

The Global Age can be understood as an Age of Interdisciplinarity, as complex global problems increasingly require interdisciplinary approaches. Interdisciplinarity is a relatively nascent curricular approach yet one increasingly needed in the field of education. This study advocates postsecondary interdisciplinary teacher education reforms that effectively integrate discipline-based coursework with interdisciplinary courses to prepare future teachers to utilize interdisciplinary curricular approaches in P- 12 education. This is a study of interdisciplinarity but also an interdisciplinary study. It conceptualizes interdisciplinary teacher education based on a constructivist theoretical approach indebted primarily to Maxine Greene, and focuses especially on literature in the field of interdisciplinary studies, published in the United States since 1997. The confluence of interdisciplinary and constructivist approaches, as well as interdisciplinarity and disciplinarity are examined. Existing interdisciplinary teacher education programs, interdisciplinary teaching strategies, and curricular designs are explored. This study provides a conceptual model that addresses teacher professionalization, interdisciplinary vision, global consciousness and wide-awakeness, and the democratic dimensions of interdisciplinary teacher education. It conceptualizes critical and socioculturally relevant education, learning communities, student-centered education, novice and non-specialist interdisciplinary inquiry, Deweyan cognitive disequilibrium, interdisciplinary research questions and questioning skills, interdisciplinary integration, and alternative academic structures and resources in interdisciplinary teacher education.

This practical text offers simple activities and lesson plans for young people in a variety of school and community settings. The author examines why outdoor education is important and includes a step-by-step guide for planning field trips through to a complete outdoor education programme.