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What is Interdisciplinary?

Discover the concept of interdisciplinary studies, its importance, and how it goes beyond disciplines by combining various fields of knowledge. Learn about the tools, methods, and perspectives used in interdisciplinary work through exposure to diverse subjects and examples. Develop your skills as an interdisciplinary thinker and collaborate with others to tackle complex problems.

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What is Interdisciplinary?

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  1. What is Interdisciplinary?

  2. Discipline(and punish? :-) Physics Chemistry Biology Mathematics Economics Psychology Etc.

  3. Or . . . Physics Chemistry Biology Social Sciences q Etc.

  4. Or . . . Mathematics Real World

  5. But is this really . . . Mathematics Real World

  6. Back to this version . . . Physics Chemistry Biology Mathematics Economics Psychology Etc.

  7. Multidisciplinary involves pieces of more than one Physics Chemistry Biology Mathematics Economics Psychology Etc.

  8. Some disciplines seem to lend themselves easily to this . . . Mathematics Physics Biology Chemistry Psychology Economics Etc.

  9. Or . . . Computer Science Physics Biology Chemistry Psychology Economics Etc.

  10. Or, some claim . . . Philosophy Physics Biology Chemistry Psychology Economics Etc.

  11. Interdisciplinary, on the other hand, lives in interstices: Philosophy Linguistics Biology Cognitive Science Computing Psychology Etc.

  12. Eventually (or often, or hopefully) it goes both ways: Philosophy Linguistics Biology Cognitive Science Computing Psychology Etc.

  13. Another traditional example: Geography Economics Biology Ecology Management Poly. Sci. Etc.

  14. Sometimes, these become new disciplines: Geography Economics Biology Ecology Management Poly. Sci. Etc.

  15. Of course, this Summer School is: Physics Economics Biology Complex Systems Computing Poly. Sci. Etc.

  16. How to become interdisciplinary . . . • Exposure to a variety of disciplinary work • Exposure to interdisciplinary work • Exposure to and experience with tools and methods from a variety of disciplines • Exposure to and experience with interdisciplinary tools and methods • Experience working with others in an interdisciplinary mode . . .

  17. And also, an understanding of how disciplines work . . .A discipline typically has: • A language (with technical terms . . .) • An ontology (a collection of “objects”) • An epistemology (what constitutes knowledge, and how to acquire and validate it) • A collection of methods and tools • A (collection of) theoretical perspective(s) • Criteria for “acceptability” (of subject matter, methods, and behavior . . .)

  18. To be interdisciplinary, one must be able to: • Be comfortable with multiple languages, and shift easily among them • Be comfortable with a variety of ontologies, epistemologies, methods, tools, and theoretical perspectives • Be able to shift perspectives easily, and continually see things in new ways • Use analogies and metaphors fluidly

  19. And further . . . • Develop facility with tools and methods from various disciplines • Develop facility with new and innovative tools with multiple applicability • Understand criteria of rigor and acceptability, and eventually, work to develop your own such criteria • And, be willing to be an “outsider,” to take risks, and have internal measures of success and value . . .

  20. During the Summer School, we try to • Expose you to a variety of discipline based subject matters, methods and tools • Expose you to a variety of interdisciplinary examples, methods and tools (e.g., entropy and probabilistic methods) • Expose you to uniquely interdisciplinary efforts currently being explored (e.g., network/graph methods, agent based modeling) • Push you to engage in interdisciplinary work in a group context, and to work outside your familiar domain of experience

  21. Important goals of the Summer School are: • To help you build your experience and skills as interdisciplinary workers • To have you serve as examples of such work after you leave the Summer School • To be seeds, spreading new methods, new approaches, and new ideas • And also, to provide a context in which those working in the field can present, discuss, and explore their work with the next generation . . .

  22. Will it work? • Obviously, there are no guarantees. The Summer School itself is an experiment in a variety of ways. Each Summer things are different. We explore different approaches to content, to pedagogy, to interaction with students, to schedules, etc. • The continued interest by students in participating, and positive response to their experience, says we are doing at least some things right :-)

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