1. INTS 3300
When I began my education through Texas Tech University Studies program, I had not heard of
or understood the need for integrative studies. Integrative studies have shown me how to
integrate the disciplines I have taken with each other. No disciplines stand alone and I have
learned how to take each class and apply to my daily work and life. Also Integrative studies
learning are important in a global context. And being able to take each discipline that a student
learns and apply it to their lives either professional, academically, or socially. In Newell’s
reading, he states that intedisciplinarians have come up with the best methods for a complete
understanding of integration. One example is that we should “find what is useful in each of the
perspectives you dislike and what is problematic about each one you like.” (Newell, pg 11) I
believe what he is saying that the classes we don’t like will still have useful information for us.
Human Anatomy didn’t seem to be important for my particular major but it will help in
identifying physical problems either with abused children for my profession or even my own
children or grandchild. Another example is “seek an understanding that is responsive to each of
the contributing perspectives but not dominated by any one of them.” (Newell, pg. 11) This
means that all the disciplines that are learned by a student in their lifetime will have some value
in our life.
According to Klein and Newell, interdisciplinary combines two or more disciplines and
addresses a complex problem that cannot be answered using only one discipline. Klein also
states that integrative is broader than interdisciplinary and that it encompasses everything that we
have learned during our academic education and our experiences inside and outside the
classroom. While interdisciplinary studies bridges the disciplines and teaching us how to use
them together.
It seems that when we integrate all that we have learned through our education that we are
learning how it can benefit our lives-professional, academic, and personal life. Interdisciplinary
seems to be learning how to take different disciplines or subjects and understand a concept. The
Renaissance is an example. You take literature, history, and even science to understand the Black
Plague that occurred during this period. One or the other cannot explain it completely but
combined you get a better picture of these time in history.
Newell, W. H. (2010). Educating For A Complex World. Liberal Education , 6-11.