Interdisciplinary learning integrates insights from multiple disciplines to tackle complex issues, promoting a comprehensive understanding through approaches like integrationist and generalist methods. It enhances problem-solving skills by requiring teamwork and dialogue among different fields, exemplified by studying topics such as 'war' or 'health' through various perspectives. The need for an interdisciplinary curriculum is emphasized for effective education in science and technology, aiming to connect knowledge to real-life applications and nurture a holistic educational approach.

1. Unit -5 Inter-Disciplinary
Curriculum
Mrs.R.Kohila Devi
Asst. Prof. in Education
Thiagarajar College of Preceptors
Madurai -9

2.  Interdisciplinary Learning is a process of answering a question,
solving a problem, or addressing a topic that is too broad or
complex to be dealt with adequately by a single discipline, and
draws on the disciplines with the goal of integrating their insights
to construct a more comprehensive understanding.

3. Two distinct approaches to interdisciplinary
 The integrationist approach which considers a process by which
ideas, information, methods and tools from two or more
disciplines are connected, synthesized or blended.
 The generalist approach where there is a dialogue or interaction
between two or more disciplines but the disciplines are not
blended into one another. Some experts consider this approach to
be multidisciplinary.

4. Characteristics of interdisciplinary learning
 The content drawn from each discipline enables the learner to
understand varied perspectives of the issue being investigated. For
example when studying about ‘War’, we may draw from History (
to study about wars that have occurred), Economics ( to study
economic causes and effects of war), Geography ( to study which
regions have been afflicted by war), Literature ( to see how poets
and writers express events related to war), Political Science ( to
see how Political affairs determine events related to wars).

5.  Interdisciplinary learning must have a definite focus which is
beyond the sphere of a single discipline. In interdisciplinary
learning, the focus is such that a single sphere cannot give a
complete understanding of the same. For example, the topic
‘Health’ is not just related to Science. It will include perspectives
from Geography (as climate may be related to health) and
Economics (as some diseases are related to economic status).

6.  Interdisciplinary learning is pragmatic in approach meaning it
should promote new understanding or a new solution about the
issue being investigated. Students using interdisciplinary approach
to learn develop a problem solving attitude.

7.  Interdisciplinary learning is a dialectical process requiring team
work between people from more than one discipline. There is
logical discussion of ideas and opinions that draw from different
disciplines. To gain understanding of an issue from varied
perspectives, one may need to confer with people from various
fields and this help to come to logical and more objective
conclusions about the issue being investigated.

8.  Interdisciplinary learning is integrative. Students and teachers
integrate disciplinary perspectives deliberately and productively.
Elements of different disciplines (knowledge, understanding and
skills) are put into a productive relationship with one another, and
connections made help students to accomplish a new, deeper and
broader understanding of the topic under study.

9. Growing Need For Inter-Disciplinary Curriculum
 Science and technology education should be associated with
productive work, in order to prepare the rising generation to cope
with the problems of everyday life and the community, and at the
same time to foster positive attitudes to work. The importance of
an interdisciplinary approach was emphasized as being essential
both in education as a whole, and in the teaching of science and
technology in particular which, it was stressed, should be linked
with the teaching of social sciences and humanities.

10. Need For Curriculum Integration
 Curriculum integration’ has been used to demote the combination
of two or more subjects to form a meaningful learning area that
would help effective integration of learning experiences for the
learner.

11. Teaching of science and
mathematics for national
development
 Science development in recent decades has, and will continue to have,
a significant influence on topics that have great importance for
humanity, quality of life, the sustainable development of the planet,
and peaceful coexistence amongst peoples.
 Mathematics has been described as a precision tool used by all
scientists in their search for a clear understanding of the physical
world. Mathematics as a school subject is recognized as the foundation
of science and technology without which a nation can never become
prosperous and economically independent.

12. Interdisciplinary Learning and
contemporary education
 The National Curriculum Framework 2005 proposes five guiding principles
for curriculum development:
(i) connecting knowledge to life outside the school;
(ii) ensuring that learning shifts away from rote methods;
(iii) enriching the curriculum so that it goes beyond textbooks;
(iv) making examinations more flexible and integrating them with classroom
life; and
(v) nurturing an overriding identity informed by caring concerns within the
democratic polity of our country.
These principles are enshrined in the basics of interdisciplinary learning.

13. Multidisciplinary learning
 Multidisciplinary learning “refers to the involvement of several
different professional areas, though not necessarily in an
integrated manner”

14.  Characteristics of Multidisciplinary learning
1. Multidisciplinary learning gives the learner varied perspectives of the topic. Different
disciplines contribute towards enriched learning. For example if the topic being
learned is ‘Water’, the learner gets an idea about the chemical composition and
properties of water from Science, whereas Geography will throw light on distribution
of water over the Earth, sources of water.
2. Content matter gathered from different disciplines may retain their distinct identities
but will help the learner get a more comprehensive view of the topic of study.
3. Multidisciplinary learning may not be integrative in its approach. While the topic is
examined through the lens of different subjects, there is no conscious effort to merge
these perspectives or integrate these views.
4. Each discipline retains its own uniqueness in multidisciplinary learning.