IDS 301: Intro to Interdisciplinary Studies

Please choose the term that best completes the following statement: Learning in general is a process of cognitive and personal transformation that relies heavily on ____________________.

self-reflection

Please write a short answer to answer the following question: What is "silo perspective?"

A "silo perspective" is a single disciplinary viewpoint.

Please choose the definition that best defines the following term: Interdisciplinarity

A cognitive process by which individuals or groups draw on disciplinary perspectives and integrate their insights and modes of thinking to advance their understanding of a complex world with the goal of applying the understanding to a real-world problem.

Please briefly describe "the new generalism" of the humanities as written by Julie Klein

A cross fertilizing synergism in the form of shared methods, concepts, and theories about language, culture and history.

Please choose the definition that best defines the following phrase: Instrumental interdisciplinarity

A pragmatic conception of interdisciplinarity that focuses on research, borrowing from disciplines and practical problem solving in response to the demands of society.

How do stakeholders influence the outcome or problem solving of a "particular societal issue?" pp. 11-13

A stakeholder is someone who has a vested interest in something. In reference to societal issues, a stakeholder may have a material stake in the outcome of the societal issue. They can recruit from outside the normal confines and join forces with other disciplines to get the desired outcome.

Please study the term "subdiscipline" on page 116.

A subdiscipline is a branch of an existing discipline.

Please choose the best answer to the following question: According to our textbook, what is systems thinking?

A thorough understanding of an organization in terms its internal components and external factors

From the list below, please choose who was missing from the fable of the elephant house.

An interdisciplinarian

Please choose the statement that best answers the following question: In what way does an interdisciplinarian see the possibility of solving a problem?

By creating common ground and integrating insights.

Please study the concept of critical interdisciplinarity on pages 76-78.

Critical interdisciplnarity aims at replacing existing structure of knowledge by questioning previous assumptions and applying new knowledge to help solve a complex problem. It is social driven, interrogates the dominant structure of knowledge and education with the aim of transforming them, while raising epistemology and political questions of value and purpose

In what ways are disciplines social and intellectual communities? (please study pages 117-118).

Disciplines can be social communities because they conform to social norms outlined by society. Disciplines are considered intellectual communities because they want to impart knowledge to others. They do this in three distinct ways which include publish scholarly article, offer degree programs in interdisciplinary studies and also offer master degree programs.

Please write a short sentence to answer the following question: What was the strategy proposed by the committee that was building the house for the elephant?

Divide and conquer

Please write out three disciplines that can be used to study gas prices are failing

Economics, Earth Science, and Geography

Please choose the term that is related to interdisciplinary values.

Empathy

Please study the definitions and examples of the following interdisciplinary values on pages 95-99: "empathy," "ethical consciousness" (including disciplinary bias and personal bias), "humility," "appreciation of diversity," "tolerance of ambiguity" and "civic engagement."

Empathy allows us to identify with another's thoughts, pain, or situation. Ethical conscious- is self-knowledge that includes recognition of bias. Humility - is a positive attitude of mind that recognizes the limits of one's training and expertise and seeks to overcome those limits by drawing on expertise from multiple disciplines. Appreciation of diversity - is being open to any all disciplines to integrate ideas to help solve a complex problem. Tolerance of ambiguity - best described as openness to more than one interpretation, depending on immediate context Civic engagement - uses nonpolitical and political means to affect the quality of life in a community

Please study the interdisciplinary traits and skills as outlined on pages 99-104. They include the following terms: interdisciplinary "entrepreneurship" (pp. 99-100), "love of learning" (p. 100), "self-reflection" (p. 100), "intellectual courage" (pp. 100-101) and "communicative competence" regarding "the differences between those to whom you are communicating" (p. 102), "abstract thinking" pp. 102-103 and "metacognition" on pages 103-104.

Entrepreneurship - is important to interdisciplinarians because working outside the boundaries of established disciplines involves taking risks and being highly self-motivated Love of learning - applying, exploring and challenging one's own thought process Self reflection - looking at one self and analyzing decision making processes, behaviors and belief systems to promote greater knowledge. Intellectual courage - is having a consciousness of the need to face and fairly address ideas, beliefs, or viewpoints toward something that may invoke negative emotions and apply different perspectives to help accept or change things. Communicative Competence - the ability to comprehend and translate terminology that is discipline-specific. It is an important skill for interdisciplinarians. The skill is useful in writing and speaking, so that the interdisciplilnarian can balance competing claims, identify strengths and weaknesses of different positions, and select insights to create a new position. Abstract thinking - higher-order cognitive ability that enables one to understand and express and interdisciplinary understanding or meaning of a problem symbolically in terms of metaphor, or to compare a hard-to-understand and complex phenomenon to a symbol that is simple, familiar, and easy to understand. Metacognition - one of the 4 skills fostered by interdisciplinary studies, is the awareness of your own thinking and learning processes. Applying a thought process of how each discipline would view and potentially solve a problem.

Please write a short definition of the following term: ethical consciousness

Ethical consciousness is self-knowledge that includes recognition of bias.

Please choose whether the following statement is true or false: According to our textbook, the "bowl of fruit" is a better metaphor for describing interdisciplinarity than a "smoothie."

False

Please indicate whether the following statement is true or false: According to our textbook, close reading of a text or technical analysis of a painting or a musical composition must be combined with psychoanalytical, sociological, semiotic, deconstructionist or feminist approaches

False

Who was the first scholar to criticize the movement of greater disciplinary specialization

Giambattista Vico

Please write a short description of what John Dewey advocated for during the general education reform movement after World War II?

He advocated engaging students in discussing pressing social and political issues by exposing them to different perspectives

Please choose the term that can best be related to the following statement under interdisciplinary values: It is the awareness that whatever comprehensive understanding you achieve is inevitably incomplete, limited in time and space, and likely to change as knowledge in the disciplines progresses.

Humility

Please choose the best statement that answers the following question: How do interdisciplinary studies students approach critical thinking?

IDS students approach the relevant disciplines from a detached and comparative viewpoint.

Please choose the best term that is considered to be at the heart of the interdisciplinary process.

Integration

Please study the integrated definition of interdisciplinary studies on pages 65-66.

Integration of interdisciplinary studies is "a cognitive process by which individuals draw on disciplinary perspectives and integrate their insights to advance their understanding of complex problem while applying this new understanding to real world problems."

Please study the rise of interdisciplinarity in the 1960s and 1970s on pages 32-36. In this section please focus on the following terms or concepts: Foucault's critique of "normalization" on p. 34; the anthropological metaphor of tribes to describe the disciplines on p. 35; the radical rejection of traditional education that "spawned the creation of new fields such as African American studies, women's studies, etc. on pp. 35-36.

Interdisicplinarity in the 1960s and 1970s was part of an education reform movement. It was started because of a 1945 report that came out of Harvard titled "General Education in a Free Society." During the rise of the Soviet Union, this movement advocated for a broader curriculum centered on ideals of freedom and democracy. Foucault's critique of normalization - Foucault stated that "normalization has become one of the major functions of society." This basically means that society dictates to us what is normal and regulates social norms and human conduct. Anthropological metaphor of tribes - this exists in separate sub cultures. All disciplines exist as separate entities or domains, however, separate sub cultures with the domains exist to make them function. The creation of new fields were developed in the 1960s and 1970s due to extremist movements. Some of these fields included African American Studies, Women's studies, and ethnic studies. There were also new developments in environmental studies, developmental studies, and urban studies.

Please write a brief definition of the following phrase: "Persuasive disciplinary communication."

It is concerned with balancing our competing claims, identifying strengths and weaknesses of every position, and instead of selecting one of the positions, it selects insights from each position to create a new position.

What is the product of interdisciplinary studies? P. 64

It is the ability to explain a phenomenon, solve a problem, create a product or raise a new question in ways that would have been unlikely through single disciplinary means by using two or more disciplines.

Please choose the two interdisciplinarian scholars who have worked tirelessly to publish articles that clarify the nature of interdisciplinarity

Julie Thompson Klein and William H Newell

Please study the rise of the modern disciplines, pp. 27-31. How was disciplinarity reinforced as the modern research university took shape? P. 29

Knowledge has been divided into five separate disciplines. These include specialization, fragmentation, and reductionism, which allows an interdisciplinarian to take apart a problem and study each issue separately, empiricism which "the basis knowledge in factual evidence derived from sensory inputs, not in conjecture, faith, or imagination," professionalism, which is the need to address educational issues in a specific platform, legitimization, which gives an interdisicplinarian legal access to work (i.e. college degree), and departmentalization, which designates a degree plan for interdisciplinary studies.

Please choose the best answer to the following question: What kinds of people do employers want to hire according to our textbook?

People who can understand, use, and integrate knowledge, technology and methods as well as collaborate with persons from diverse cultural backgrounds with diverse disciplinary training

Please write the three key words or phrases about the nature of interdisciplinary that make up three broad headings.

Purpose, process and product

Which definition best defines the following phrase: Critical Interdisciplinarity

Questions disciplinary assumptions and ideological underpinnings.

Please choose the definition that best describes the following term: Disciplinarity

Refers to the system of knowledge specialties called disciplines

Please choose the best answer to complete the question: What is a hallmark of interdisciplinary studies?

Relating the particular to the whole by drawing on multiple perspectives that are relevant to a specific problem or question

Please choose the best term that answers the following question: What is another term for innovative ideas?

Revolutionary insights

Please choose the statement that best reflects Maya Lin's philosophy when creating the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

She remained apolitical throughout the process and consulted various community groups, including veterans and politicians.

Please choose the statement that best answers the following question: What is analytical thinking?

The ability to evaluate the quality of ideas and to solve complex problems through collaboration

Please choose the phrase that best describes the following term: metacognition

The awareness of your own learning and thinking processes.

Please write a brief description of disciplinary tribalism

The discipline exists in separate sub cultures

Please write a brief description of the term "perspective taking."

The intellectual capacity to view points, including interdisciplinary ones, in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding.

Please choose the definition that best defines the following term: Transdisciplinarity

The involvement of academic researchers from different unrelated disciplines as well as nonacademic participants such as land managers, user groups, and the general public to create new knowledge and theory and delve into a common question.

Interdisciplinarity in the 1980s and 1990s on pages 36-38. Please focus on the two developments: 1) the legitimization of interdisciplinarity by educators; and the situation in which "interdisciplinarity was being accepted by a wider range of discipline-based faculty who were unfamiliar with its origins and character" (p. 37).

The legitimization of interdisciplinarity by educators - Educators began to view interdisciplinarity as an academic tool aimed at "collaberative learning, multicultural education, learning communities, inquiry and problem based learning and writing across the curriculum, civic education, and service learning." Interdisciplinarity was being accepted by a wider range of discipline based faculty because the resentment between interdisciplinarity and the disciplines had been reduced. The problem of interdisciplinarity was the fact that it did not fit in the confines of what was considered "the modern research oriented university." It was this restricted and naive view that made the lines blurry.

Please choose the best answer to the following question: According to our textbook, which phrase corresponds to one of the reasons for the development of interdisciplinary studies in college?

The need for systems thinking and contextual thinking

Please choose the time frame when knowledge and disciplinary specialization outstripped previous educational models

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Please choose the definition that best defines the following term: Multidisciplinary

The place side by side of insights from two or more disciplines without attempting to integrate them.

We are studying the "core ideas that form the essential character of disciplines" in this chapter. Please read pp. 111-116, but for our exam you should study the commonalities discussed in those pages. They are listed on pages 113-115: "The Purpose of Disciplines" and the "Content of Disciplines."

The purpose of disciplines is to interpret reality according to certain prescribed guidelines and provide members with organizational support. The content of disciplines is to describe the content of disciplines, integrate certain tools, and define elements to gain knowledge of a particular discipline or perspective.

Perspective taking is a very important term in IDS. Please study this intellectual capacity on pages 92-95. Included in this section are two terms you should know: "critical thinking" p. 93 and "intellectual dexterity" on page 94.

The use of multiple perspectives involves viewing a problem, a topic, or an artifact from alternative viewpoints. Critical thinking - the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment. All disciplines use critical thinking as an important learning outcome. Intellectual dexterity - is the ability to speak to a broad spectrum of knowledge and experience.

What is driving interdisciplinary studies today in the natural sciences, the social sciences, the humanities, and fine arts? pgs 3-6

There are 6 concepts driving interdisciplinary studies today. These include the complexity of nature, society, and ourselves, the complexity of the globalized workplace, the need for systems thinking and contextual thinking, the changing nature of university research, the public world and its pressing needs and a knowledge society's need for both disciplinary and interdisciplinarity.

Please review the four practical reasons for pursuing an interdisciplinary studies degree, pp. 17-19.

There are four practical reasons to pursue an interdisciplinary studies degree. They include: inter disciplinarians who integrate diverse strategies and insights from different disciplines, raising questions about societal values by asking questions about complex matters in a broad format, drawing on relevant disciplines to integrate those ideas into complex problems, and liberating individuals by teaching them to deal with complex societal issues, convert your education to actual processes to deal with "new contexts, new problems, and new responsibilities," to think outside the box and draw on more than one discipline and not "digging in your heels," learn how to determine if information is relevant to the problem at hand, and develop and integrate your own personal identity into the situation you are responsible for while reflection on experiences relevant to the situation.

Please review the relationship between successful intelligence and integrative thinking on pages 13-16. The terms that you should study are the following: "Successful Intelligence," which is comprised of "creative intelligence", "analytical intelligence" and "practical intelligence."

There are three different components of successful intelligence. These include creative intelligence, which helps to formulate ideas and make connections, analytical intelligence, which completely breaks down an existing problem, evaluates it, and helps come up with a solution, and practical intelligence, which is an application of ideas throughout business that encompasses everyday life

Please choose the phrase that best relates to creative thinking as it pertains to interdisciplinarity.

Thinking outside the box.

Please choose the statement that best describes the following term: critical thinking

This is the capacity to analyze, critique and assess.

Please write out the three main components of "successful intelligence."

Three main components of "successful intelligence" is creative intelligence, analytical intelligence, and practical intelligence.

Please study how interdisciplinarity is advancing in science and technology (pp. 40-41- see the three broad trends), in the social sciences (pp. 41-43- see quantitative research and area studies and also the three implications for interdisciplinary learning on page 43), in the new humanities on pages 43-45. On page 45 please study the term "informed borrowing."

To understand how interdisciplinarity is advancing in science and technology is to use a broad view when integrating other disciplines view points or objectives into the phenomenon you are studying. To do this there are three broad trends to assist with this integration. They include practical problem solving, applying a multidisicplinary approach, and incorporating knowledge from all disciplines and developing curriculum to support this. Three implications for interdisciplinary learning - pursuing an all inclusive viewpoint for social norms and using different disciplinary perspective to decipher some answers, develop skills that allow you to borrow tools from other disciplines, and integrate insights from relevant disciplines to completely understand problems and formulate solutions by identifying and blending knowledge from relevant disciplines to produce an interdisciplinary understanding of a particular problem or intellectual question. Informed borrowing involves using methods from one field to solve a problem in another. It allows you to think "outside of the box" while trying to understand and integrate and interdisciplinarian approach to an issue.

Please Indicate whether the following statement is true or false: Interdisciplinary studies cares as much about understanding the implication of the connections it makes as it does about the process of making connections

True

Please choose true or false with regard to the following statement: Intellectual dexterity is the ability to speak to a broad spectrum of knowledge and experience.

True

Please choose whether the following statement is true or false. The pursuit of a truly comprehensive understanding of a particular social problem that is of public concern requires integrating insights from relevant disciplines

True

Please indicate if the following statement is true or false: Contextual thinking refers to an analysis of relationships between the system's parts and how those relationships can be studied within a moment in tie so that historical, cultural and political thought form that can reveal the links between those relationships

True

Please indicate whether the following statements is true of false. Creative breakthroughs often occur when different disciplinary perspectives and unrelated are brought together

True

Please choose the best answer to the following question: How can we solve complex problems in which humans interact with natural forces of the world?

We should engage in border crossing activity to develop understanding and offer solutions that are more comprehensive

Please study the use of metaphors for describing interdisciplinarity, pp. 80-87. Please study the specific metaphors described in our textbook, "boundary crossing" pp. 81-82; "bridge building" pp. 83-84; "bilingualism" pp. 85-87.

a figure of speech used by interdisciplinarians refer to pg numbers

Please write out one of the interdisciplinary criticisms of disciplinary specialization

choose one of these: Specialization can blind us to the broader context Specialization tends to produce tunnel vision Specialization tends to discount or ignore other perspectives Specialization can hinder creative breakthroughs Specialization fails to address complex problems comprehensively Specialization imposes a past approach on the present

What does the term interdisciplinarity mean? P. 60

conceptual essence of interdisciplinary work

What are interdisciplinary insights? P. 60

information derived from 2 or more fields of study/disciplines, integrated by the interdisciplinarian

Please choose the term that bet relates to the following statement: This new thinking included calls for radical university reforms, one central element of which was the elimination of the traditional academic disciplines in favor of more holistic notions of training that were closer to the practical problems of life

interdisciplinarity

Please study "Interdisciplinarity's Criticism of the Disciplines" on pages 50-55. They are summarized on page 55 and explained in the previous pages: Specialization can blind us to the broader context; Specialization tends to produce tunnel vision; Specialization tends to discount or ignore other perspectives; Specialization can hinder creative breakthroughs; Specialization fails to address complex problems comprehensively; Specialization imposes a past approach on the present.

page 50-55

Please study the discussion of disciplines as "epistemic communities, meaning that they share an epistemology [system of knowledge], or how and how much we can understand the nature of the world we live in" (p. 116). Please study what disciplines use as a way of knowing on page 117.

pg 117

Please study the purpose of interdisciplinary studies in terms of "capacity" on page 64. Please study Table 3.2 that outline the cognitive capacities developed by interdisciplinary studies on page 64.

pg 64-65

How are disciplines organized in an academic environment (colleges, universities, etc.)? What is the shadow side of this organization in terms of the "compartmentalization of knowledge" and the description of knowledge within "silos" (pp. 119-121)?

pgs 119-121

Please choose the disciplines that "formed a rump of knowledge" during the 19th century after the other new specialities were formed

philosophy and modern languages

Please study the concept of instrumental interdisciplinarity on pages 78-80.

problem-driven, pragmatic approach that focuses on research, borrowing, and practical problem solving in response to the external demands of society

Let us discuss with greater depth "Perspective Taking in Interdisciplinary Studies" on pages 124-131. A) four specific cognitive capacities- viewing yourself, viewing others, viewing cultures, and viewing disciplines, pp. 124-125; B) See "role taking" in Box 5.4 p. 124; C) See definition of interdisciplinary perspective taking on page 125, which is "the intellectual capacity to view a complex problem, phenomenon, or behavior from multiple perspectives, including interdisciplinary ones, in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of it;" D) Please study the types of disciplinary perspective and the three different senses used with regard to the concept of perspective on pages 125-126; E) Please study the section on "Disciplinary Perspective Defined" on pages 126-127; F) Please study "What Disciplinary Perspective Is Used For" on pages 127-128- "A discipline's perspective is the primary means of distinguishing one discipline from another" (p. 127). G) I really like the section called "Disciplinary Perspectives in an Overall Sense" and Table 5.3 on pages 128-131. You don't have to memorize the box but just get a feel for how the disciplines have changed with regard to the changes in our reality. 8) Please study the three misconceptions about disciplinary perspective on pages 131-133.

refer to page numbers

Please study the differences between disciplinarity, multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity on pp. 67-76. Within this section you should study and understand the following terminology: "discipline" and "disciplinarity," (p. 69); disciplinary reductionism on page 69; "metaphors" for understanding interdisciplinarity on pages 71-72; transformation of an environmental studies course from a multidisciplinary to an explicitly interdisciplinary course on pages 72-73; the difference between multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity summarized on pages 73-74; "transdisciplinarity" on pp. 74-75.

refer to page numbers

Please study the definition of the term "discipline" in the left-hand margin on p. 116.

relates education to specific economic, political, and ecclesiastical ends. It uses knowledge as a tool that is powerful but also constraining.

Please review the three terms highlighted on pp. 6-8 and how they relate to the integration of ideas: "systems thinking," "contextual thinking" and "silo perspective

systems thinking - focuses on the way that a system's constituent parts interrelate and how systems work over time and within the context of larger systems. The systems thinking approach contrasts with traditional analysis, which studies systems by breaking them down into their separate elements. Systems thinking can be used in any area of research and has been applied to the study of medical, environmental, political, economic, human resources, and educational systems, among many others. contextual thinking - means how well you link specific events, tasks and actions in a wider perspective or pattern. Contextual thinking is based on the premise that knowledge is always changing. silo perspective - is a single disciplinary viewpoint. It poses a constricted view of world.

Please choose the timeframe which saw the formation of new categories of knowledge

the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Please choose the timeframe in which science first became associated with an increased insistence on testing theories through careful observation or experiment

the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries