Teaching Philosophy
Scientists become interdisciplinary thinkers who can solve complex problems when they are able to skillfully integrate multi-disciplinary data, tools, and concepts, and can synthesize how individual parts of a system interact in non-linear ways. More simply stated, interdisciplinary thinking is an advanced cognitive skill comprised of numerous subskills that enables one to “think about something familiar in an unfamiliar way.”
Based on my personal experience of moving from disciplinary to interdisciplinary science, and ten years of designing interdisciplinary curricula for both undergraduate and graduate levels, I believe the most effective approach for facilitating acquisition of the subskills needed for integrated thinking are to: 1) provide learners with a foundational primer on the epistemologies, methods, and language of complementary disciplines, 2) engage them in active cooperative-learning exercises where they can practice interdisciplinary communication, collaboration, and positive interdependence, and 3) introduce them to systems thinking through experiential place-based case studies.
Examples of curricula that I have designed to cultivate interdisciplinary thinking include:
1. A general education geoscience course called Bays and Beaches around the World. This undergraduate-level course provides learners with a basic understanding of the geologic and human processes shaping Earth's coasts and introduces them to systems thinking through active learning exercises, global case studies, and field experiences. Students have said this class hones their environmental observation skills and enables them to connect the coastal characteristics that they see on a beach to multiple processes. They also say it's fun!
2. An advanced PhD-level course: Integrated Problem Solving in Coastal Sciences. This course blends theory and application by providing learners a first-hand experience with designing a collaborative interdisciplinary research project. It engages students through examination of perspectives, often unconscious, that condition approaches to the integrated research process - in effect, world views that frame disciplinary research. Learners practice grappling with tradeoffs, assumptions, problems of scale, and becoming more comfortable with ambiguity as they design an interdisciplinary research project concept and develop a proposal. This course also prepares them to more effectively communicate complex ideas in a simple way when discussing messy problems with their teammates, funders, policy makers, practitioners, and other stakeholders.
3. An upper-division case-study course: Doomed to Drown? Infrastructure Governance and Environmental Justice in Bangladesh. This case study includes progressive learning modules designed to introduce learners to systems thinking using infrastructure governance in the Bengal Delta, Bangladesh as a central focus. The progressive curriculum develops skills needed for complex problem identification and analysis by introducing learners to a socioecological system and the relationships, interdependencies, and feedbacks between various elements of the system. Learners integrate their training through system-thinking exercises such as causal loop diagramming (CLD) and a role-playing game. This open-source curriculum was developed as part of a short course I participated in at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC).
Examples of other courses and curricula that I have co-designed, co-taught, or both:
University of Colorado Boulder
Global Intensive: Sustainable Development in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam (upper-division undergraduate;
in-class and study abroad component)
Vanderbilt University Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Water, Culture, and Social Justice in Bangladesh (transdisciplinary graduate capstone course;
in-class and study abroad component)
Oceanography (undergraduate lab)
Stony Brook University Marine Sciences Research Center
Coastal Geology (Research Experience for Undergraduates [REU] experiential field projects)
Coastal Oceanography (undergraduate)
Introduction to Oceanography (undergraduate)
Scientists become interdisciplinary thinkers who can solve complex problems when they are able to skillfully integrate multi-disciplinary data, tools, and concepts, and can synthesize how individual parts of a system interact in non-linear ways. More simply stated, interdisciplinary thinking is an advanced cognitive skill comprised of numerous subskills that enables one to “think about something familiar in an unfamiliar way.”
Based on my personal experience of moving from disciplinary to interdisciplinary science, and ten years of designing interdisciplinary curricula for both undergraduate and graduate levels, I believe the most effective approach for facilitating acquisition of the subskills needed for integrated thinking are to: 1) provide learners with a foundational primer on the epistemologies, methods, and language of complementary disciplines, 2) engage them in active cooperative-learning exercises where they can practice interdisciplinary communication, collaboration, and positive interdependence, and 3) introduce them to systems thinking through experiential place-based case studies.
Examples of curricula that I have designed to cultivate interdisciplinary thinking include:
1. A general education geoscience course called Bays and Beaches around the World. This undergraduate-level course provides learners with a basic understanding of the geologic and human processes shaping Earth's coasts and introduces them to systems thinking through active learning exercises, global case studies, and field experiences. Students have said this class hones their environmental observation skills and enables them to connect the coastal characteristics that they see on a beach to multiple processes. They also say it's fun!
2. An advanced PhD-level course: Integrated Problem Solving in Coastal Sciences. This course blends theory and application by providing learners a first-hand experience with designing a collaborative interdisciplinary research project. It engages students through examination of perspectives, often unconscious, that condition approaches to the integrated research process - in effect, world views that frame disciplinary research. Learners practice grappling with tradeoffs, assumptions, problems of scale, and becoming more comfortable with ambiguity as they design an interdisciplinary research project concept and develop a proposal. This course also prepares them to more effectively communicate complex ideas in a simple way when discussing messy problems with their teammates, funders, policy makers, practitioners, and other stakeholders.
3. An upper-division case-study course: Doomed to Drown? Infrastructure Governance and Environmental Justice in Bangladesh. This case study includes progressive learning modules designed to introduce learners to systems thinking using infrastructure governance in the Bengal Delta, Bangladesh as a central focus. The progressive curriculum develops skills needed for complex problem identification and analysis by introducing learners to a socioecological system and the relationships, interdependencies, and feedbacks between various elements of the system. Learners integrate their training through system-thinking exercises such as causal loop diagramming (CLD) and a role-playing game. This open-source curriculum was developed as part of a short course I participated in at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC).
Examples of other courses and curricula that I have co-designed, co-taught, or both:
University of Colorado Boulder
Global Intensive: Sustainable Development in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam (upper-division undergraduate;
in-class and study abroad component)
Vanderbilt University Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Water, Culture, and Social Justice in Bangladesh (transdisciplinary graduate capstone course;
in-class and study abroad component)
Oceanography (undergraduate lab)
Stony Brook University Marine Sciences Research Center
Coastal Geology (Research Experience for Undergraduates [REU] experiential field projects)
Coastal Oceanography (undergraduate)
Introduction to Oceanography (undergraduate)
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