Interdisciplinarity

Interdisciplinary is a term of art in several professions concerned with education and training that refers to the qualities of studies that cut across several established disciplines or traditional fields of study. Technical terminology is the specialized Vocabulary of a field This involves researchers, students, and teachers in the goals of connecting and integrating several academic disciplines, professions, or technologies, along with their specific perspectives, in the pursuit of a common task. An academic discipline or field of study is a branch of Knowledge which is taught or Researched at the college or university level Interdisciplinary approaches typically focus on problems felt by the investigators to be too complex or vast to be dealt with the knowledge and tools of a single discipline, for example, the epidemiology of AIDS or global warming. Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the Health and Illness of populations and serves as the foundation and Logic of interventions made in the Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the The term may be applied where the subject is felt to have been neglected or even misrepresented in the traditional disciplinary structure of research institutions, for example, women's studies or ethnic area studies.

The adjective interdisciplinary is most often used in educational circles when researchers from two or more disciplines pool their approaches and modify them so that they are better suited to the problem at hand, including the case of the team-taught course where students are required to understand a given subject in terms of multiple traditional disciplines. In Grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a Noun or Pronoun, giving more information about the For example, the subject of land use may appear differently when examined by different disciplines, for instance, biology, chemistry, economics, geography, and politics. Land use' is also often used to refer to the distinct land use types in Zoning. Foundations of modern biology There are five unifying principles Chemistry (from Egyptian kēme (chem meaning "earth") is the Science concerned with the composition structure and properties Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία - geografia) is the study of the Earth and its lands features inhabitants and phenomena Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions

In a sense, interdisciplinary involves attacking a subject from various angles and methods, eventually cutting across disciplines and forming a new method for understanding the subject. A common goal of understanding unites the various methods and acknowledges a common or shared subject or problem, even if it spreads to other disciplines.

1 Development
2 Varieties
3 Barriers
4 Interdisciplinary Studies
- 4.1 Examples
  - 4.1.1 Europe
  - 4.1.2 North America
5 Historical examples
6 References
7 Further reading
8 See also
9 External links

Development

Although interdisciplinary and interdisciplinarity are frequently viewed as twentieth century terms, the concept has historical antecedents, most notably Greek philosophy. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Ancient Greek philosophy focused on the role of Reason and Inquiry. ^[1] Julie Thompson Klein attests that "the roots of the concepts lie in a number of ideas that resonate through modern discourse—the ideas of a unified science, general knowledge, synthesis and the integration of knowledge" ^[2] while Giles Gunn says that Greek historians and dramatists took elements from other realms of knowledge (such as medicine or philosophy) to further understand their own material. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or Drama. Medicine is the art and science of healing It encompasses a range of Health care practices evolved to maintain and restore Human Health by the Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language ^[3]

Interdisciplinary programs sometimes arise from a shared conviction that the traditional disciplines are unable or unwilling to address an important problem. For example, social science disciplines such as anthropology and sociology paid little attention to the social analysis of technology throughout most of the twentieth century. Anthropology (/ˌænθɹəˈpɒlədʒi/ from Greek grc ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos, "human" -λογία -logia) is the study of Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" Technology is a broad concept that deals with a Species ' usage and knowledge of Tools and Crafts and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt As a result, many social scientists with interests in technology have joined science and technology studies programs, which are typically staffed by scholars drawn from numerous disciplines. Science and technology studies (STS is the study of how social political and cultural values affect scientific research and technological innovation and how these in turn affect society They may also arise from new research developments, such as nanotechnology, which cannot be addressed without combining the approaches of two or more disciplines. Nanotechnology, sometimes shortened to nanotech, refers to a field of Applied science whose theme is the control of matter on an Atomic and Molecular Examples include quantum information processing, an amalgamation of quantum physics and computer science, and bioinformatics, combining molecular biology with computer science. Quantum information science concerns information science that depends on quantum effects in physics Quantum mechanics is the study of mechanical systems whose dimensions are close to the Atomic scale such as Molecules Atoms Electrons Computer science (or computing science) is the study and the Science of the theoretical foundations of Information and Computation and their Bioinformatics is the application of information technology to the field of molecular biology Molecular biology is the study of Biology at a molecular level

At another level interdisciplinarity is seen as a remedy to the harmful effects of excessive specialization. On some views, however, interdisciplinarity is entirely indebted to those who specialize in one field of study—that is, without specialists, interdisciplinarians would have no information and no leading experts to consult. Others place the focus of interdisciplinarity on the need to transcend disciplines, viewing excessive specialization as problematic both epistemologically and politically. When interdisciplinary collaboration or research results in new solutions to problems, much information is given back to the various disciplines involved. Therefore, both disciplinarians and interdisciplinarians may be seen in complementary relation to one another.

Varieties

There are several types of inquiry that may be referred to as "interdisciplinary. " Interdisciplinarity is often used interchangeably with such terms as multidisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, and crossdisciplinarity. Multidisciplinarity is a non-integrative mixture of disciplines in that each discipline retains its methodologies and assumptions without change or development from other disciplines within Overview In scientific contexts the term 'transdisciplinarity' is used in various ways Crossdisciplinarity describes any method project and research activity that examines a subject outside the scope of its own Discipline without cooperation or integration from

Multidisciplinarity

Multidisciplinarity is the act of joining together two or more disciplines without integration. Each discipline yields discipline specific results while any integration would be left to a third party observer. An example of multidisciplinarity would be a panel presentation on the many facets of the AIDS pandemic (medicine, politics, epidemiology) in which each section is given as a stand-alone presentation. Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the Health and Illness of populations and serves as the foundation and Logic of interventions made in the

A multidisciplinary community or project is made up of people from different disciplines and professions who are engaged in working together as equal stakeholders in addressing a common challenge. The key question is how well can the challenge be decomposed into nearly separable subparts, and then addressed via the distributed knowledge in the community or project team. Distributed knowledge is a term used in Multi-agent system research that refers to all the knowledge that a community of agents possesses and might apply in solving a problem The lack of shared vocabulary between people and communication overhead is an additional challenge in these communities and projects. However, if similar challenges of a particular type need to be repeatedly addressed, and each challenge can be properly decomposed, a multidisciplinary community can be exceptionally efficient and effective. A multidisciplinary person is a person with degrees from two or more academic disciplines, so one person can take the place of two or more people in a multidisciplinary community or project team. Over time, multidisciplinary work does not typically lead to an increase nor a decrease in the number of academic disciplines.

"Interdisciplinarity" in referring to an approach to organizing intellectual inquiry is an evolving field, and stable, consensus definitions are not yet established for some subordinate or closely related fields.

An interdisciplinary community or project is made up of people from multiple disciplines and professions who are engaged in creating and applying new knowledge as they work together as equal stakeholders in addressing a common challenge. The key question is what new knowledge (of an academic discipline nature), which is outside the existing disciplines, is required to address the challenge. Aspects of the challenge cannot be addressed easily with existing distributed knowledge, and new knowledge becomes a primary subgoal of addressing the common challenge. Distributed knowledge is a term used in Multi-agent system research that refers to all the knowledge that a community of agents possesses and might apply in solving a problem The nature of the challenge, either its scale or complexity, requires that many people have interactional expertise to improve their efficiency working across multiple disciplines as well as within the new interdisciplinary area. Interactional expertise is part of a more complex classification of Expertise developed by Harry Collins and Robert Evans (both based at Cardiff University An interdisciplinarary person is a person with degrees from one or more academic disciplines with additional interactional expertise in one or more additional academic disciplines, and new knowledge that is claimed by more than one discipline. Over time, interdisciplinary work can lead to an increase or a decrease in the number of academic disciplines.

Transdisciplinarity

Transdisciplinary, while the term is frequently used, may not yet have a stable, consensus meaning. Usage suggests that a transdisciplinary approach dissolves boundaries between disciplines. Most uses of the term suggest a deliberate and intentionally scandalous or transgressive violation of disciplinary rules, for the purpose of achieving new insight, or of expanding the discipline's resources.

A less polemic view of transdiciplinarity treats it as the act of taking theories and methods which exist independently of several disciplines and applying them to organize and understand different areas or fields. This is based largely on the idea that "knowledge cannot be singularly claimed as belonging to or originating in any one discipline". ^[1] An example of transdisciplinarity in this sense would be the application of Marxist philosophies to disciplines such as art history or literature, thus applying philosophies of sociology, economics, politics, et cetera to the study of these areas. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Art history is the Academic study of objects of Art in their Historical development and stylistic contexts i Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions

A transdisciplinary community or project is made up of transdisciplinary professionals, which is an ideal that can only be approached and never achieved. A transdisciplinary professional has degrees in all disciplines as well as experience in all professions. In essence, a truly transdisciplinary person contains all the distributed knowledge of the people in the community or project as their individual common knowledge. Distributed knowledge is a term used in Multi-agent system research that refers to all the knowledge that a community of agents possesses and might apply in solving a problem Common knowledge is what "everybody knows" usually with reference to the Community in which the term is used A transdisciplinary community is one in which common knowledge of individuals and the distributed knowledge of the collective are identical for the purpose of addressing a common challenge. Common knowledge is what "everybody knows" usually with reference to the Community in which the term is used

A postmodernist view of transdisciplinarity sees knowledge production as not confined to academic disciplines, conceived as existing in a horizontal plane. Knowledge is also produced from varieties of organizations and collective entities outside of academia, and these can be conceived of as existing on a vertical plane. Knowledge production outside of academia can range from that generated by complex organized structures through less complex communities, down to that produced spontaneously by groups and individuals. Within any collective entity this knowledge can range from that generated by those in leadership roles to that produced experientially and used by individual members in completing their day-to-day functions. Transdisciplinarity, then, implies the integration or interrelation of disciplinary generated knowledge and non-disciplinary generated knowledge and its application to complex problems and issues.

Crossdisciplinarity

Crossdisciplinarity is the act of crossing disciplinary boundaries to explain one subject in the terms of another, foreign subject or method. Common examples of crossdisciplinary approaches are studies of the physics of music or the politics of literature. Physics (Greek Physis - φύσις in everyday terms is the Science of Matter and its motion. Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter

Barriers

Because most participants in interdisciplinary ventures were trained in traditional disciplines, they must learn to appreciate differing perspectives and methods. For example, a discipline that places more emphasis on quantitative "rigor" may produce practitioners who think of themselves (and their discipline) as "more scientific" than others; in turn, colleagues in "softer" disciplines may associate quantitative approaches with an inability to grasp the broader dimensions of a problem. An interdisciplinary program may not succeed if its members remain stuck in their disciplines (and in disciplinary attitudes).

From the disciplinary perspective, much interdisciplinary work may be seen as "soft," lacking in rigor, or ideologically motivated; these beliefs place barriers in the career paths of those who choose interdisciplinary work. For example, interdisciplinary grant applications are often refereed by peer reviewers drawn from established disciplines; not surprisingly, interdisciplinary researchers may experience difficulty getting funding for their research. Peer review (also known as refereeing) is the process of subjecting an author's scholarly work research or Ideas to the scrutiny of others who are An academic discipline or field of study is a branch of Knowledge which is taught or Researched at the college or university level In addition, untenured researchers know that, when they seek promotion and tenure, it is likely that some of the evaluators will lack commitment to interdisciplinarity. A promotion is the advancement of rank or Position in an organizational Hierarchy system Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior Academic 's Contractual right not to have their position terminated They may fear that making a commitment to interdisciplinary research will increase the risk of being denied tenure.

Interdisciplinary programs may fail if they are not given sufficient autonomy. For example, interdisciplinary faculty are usually recruited to a joint appointment, with responsibilities in both an interdisciplinary program (such as women's studies) and a traditional discipline (such as history). History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology If the traditional discipline makes the tenure decisions, new interdisciplinary faculty will be hesitant to commit themselves fully to interdisciplinary work. Other barriers include the generally disciplinary orientation of most scholarly journals, leading to the perception, if not the fact, that interdisciplinary research is hard to publish. In addition, since traditional budgetary practices at most universities channel resources through the disciplines, it becomes difficult to account for a given scholar or teacher's salary and time. During periods of budgetary retraction, the natural tendency to serve the primary constituency (i. e. , students majoring in the traditional discipline) makes resources scarce for teaching and research comparatively far from the center of the discipline as traditionally understood. For these same reasons, the introduction of new interdisciplinary programs is often perceived as a competition for diminishing funds, and may for this reason meet resistance.

Due to these and other barriers, interdisciplinary research areas are strongly motivated to become disciplines themselves. If they succeed, they can establish their own research funding programs and make their own tenure and promotion decisions. In so doing, they lower the risk of entry. Examples of former interdisciplinary research areas that have become disciplines include neuroscience, cybernetics, biochemistry and biomedical engineering. Neuroscience is a field devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the Structure of Complex systems especially Communication processes control mechanisms and Feedback Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living Organisms It deals with the Structure and function of cellular components such as Biomedical engineering ( BME) is the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field These new fields are occasionally referred to as "interdisciplines. "

Interdisciplinary Studies

Interdisciplinary Studies is an academic program or process seeking to synthesize broad perspectives, knowledge, skills, interconnections, and epistemology in an educational setting. Perspective in theory of Cognition is the choice of a context or a Reference (or the result of this choice from which to Sense, Categorize Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Interdisciplinary programs may be founded in order to facilitate the study of subjects which have some coherence, but which cannot be adequately understood from a single disciplinary perspective (for example, Women's Studies or Medieval Studies). In academic usage medievalism is the study of the Middle Ages, also referred to as medieval studies. More rarely, and at a more advanced level, interdisciplinarity may itself become the focus of study, in a critique of institutionalized disciplines' ways of segmenting knowledge.

Perhaps the most common complaint regarding interdisciplinary programs, by supporters and detractors alike, is the lack of synthesis—that is, students are provided with multiple disciplinary perspectives, but are not given effective guidance in resolving the conflicts and achieving a coherent view of the subject. Critics of interdisciplinary programs feel that the ambition is simply unrealistic, given the knowledge and intellectual maturity of all but the exceptional undergraduate; some defenders concede the difficulty, but insist that cultivating interdisciplinarity as a habit of mind, even at that level, is both possible and essential to the education of informed and engaged citizens and leaders capable of analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing information from multiple sources in order to render reasoned decisions.

The Politics of Interdisciplinary Studies

Since 1998 there has been an ascendancy in the value of the concept and practice of interdisciplinary research and teaching and a growth in the number of bachelors degrees awarded at U. S. universities classified as multi- or interdisciplinary studies. The number of interdisciplinary bachelors degrees awarded annually rose from 7,000 in 1973 to 30,000 a year by 2005 according to data from the National Center of Educational Statistics (NECS). In addition, educational leaders from the Boyer Commission to Carnegie's President Vartan Gregorian to Alan Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science have advocated for interdisciplinary rather than disciplinary approaches to problem solving in the 21st Century. This has been echoed by federal funding agencies, particularly the NIH under the Direction of Elias Zerhouni, who have advocated that grant proposals be framed more as interdisciplinary collaborative projects than single researcher, single discipline ones. At the same time, longstanding bachelors in interdisciplinary studies programs many existing and thriving for 30 or more years, have been closed down, in spite of healthy enrollment. Examples include Arizona International (formerly part of the University of Arizona, The School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Miami University, and the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Wayne State University; others such as the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Appalachian State University, and George Mason University's New Century College, have been cut back. The University of Arizona (also referred to as UA, U of A, or Arizona) is a Land-grant and space-grant public institution Miami University (colloquially and incorrectly referred to as Miami of Ohio for clarification purposes is a Coeducational Public university founded in 1809 Wayne State University is located in Detroit, Michigan, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center. Appalachian State University is a comprehensive ( Master's L) public, Coeducational University located in Boone, North Carolina George Mason University (also referred to as GMU or Mason) is a large Public university in the United States. Stuart Henry has seen this trend as part of the hegemony of the disciplines in their attempt to recolonize the experimental knowledge production of otherwise marginalized fields of inquiry, once disciplinary ascendancy threatened their dominance in academe.

Examples

Europe

The University of Reading, UK, has a well established program in Cybernetics. The University of Reading is a University in the English town of Reading Berkshire Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the Structure of Complex systems especially Communication processes control mechanisms and Feedback Not only can students read for a 3 or 4 year degree in the subject, but the research program is thriving and in recent years has included such as the Cyborg studies of Kevin Warwick, a faculty member. A cyborg is a Cybernetic Organism ( ie, an organism that has both artificial and natural systems Kevin Warwick (born 9 February 1954 Coventry, UK is a British scientist and professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading

EPSRC, the UK physical science funding body, funds several interdisciplinary doctoral training centres across the UK. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council ( EPSRC) is a British For example, the MOAC (Molecular Organisation and Assembly in Cells) centre at the University of Warwick specialises in training mathematicians and physicists in life science research and vice versa. The University of Warwick is a British Campus university located on the outskirts of Coventry, West Midlands, England and is

Sciences Po, a social sciences university in Paris, France, has been interdisciplinary since its foundation in 1873. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Its programmes are best known to integrate the disciplines of economics, law, political science, business and sociology. This starts at the undergraduate level, in which all study programmes are strongly interdisciplinary in nature and feature courses ranging from philosophy to marketing via geopolitics. At the Master's level, students generally specialise in one or two disciplines (such as finance, economics or international relations); however, all of them remain required to enroll in a few graduate-level economics and international relations courses as well. Accordingly, more than 80 percent of students turn to the private sector upon graduation. Their broad horizon is particularly appreciated in the consulting sector.
Mechatronics is offered at various colleges across Europe. Mechatronics (or Mecha nical and Elec' tronics' Engineering) is the combination of Mechanical engineering, Electronic engineering

The Estonian Academy of Arts (EAA) has a fine art program which deals with contemporary arts from an interdisciplinary view point. Lectures focus on performativity in art and mixed media approaches. Department is run by Jaan Toomik . Jaan Toomik (born 1961 lives and works in Tallinn) is a video artist and a painter often described as the most widely acknowledged Estonian contemporary artist

North America

The Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC) has been supporting interdisciplinary research and teaching since it was established in 1949. Its first interdiscplinary research unit was the School of Community and Regional Planning, opened in 1956, with Peter Oberlander its first Director. Professor William Rees developed the ecological footprint analysis tool here in 1992. William Rees may refer to William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog (1802–1883 writer William Rees (cinematographer (1904–1961 The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's Ecosystems. In October 2005, the most recent research unit, the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), an interdisciplinary research centre for spinal cord injury recovery, joined the faculty. In October 2006, UBC's Senate approved the creation of a new College for Interdisciplinary Studies, effective January 1, 2007. The College for Interdisciplinary Studies ("CFIS" supports and cultivates interdisciplinary research and teaching at the University of British Columbia (UBC that aims to find The 35 interdisciplinary research units, two Colleges, and twelve interdisciplinary programs previously within the Faculty of Graduate Studies moved to the College, and the mandate was broadened to include supporting interdisciplinarity across the entire university at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Almost all of the 82 current faculty members in the College are jointly or cross-appointed between a research unit within the College and at least one other research unit, department, or faculty.

Fairhaven College in Bellingham, Washington, was the first college to provide thematic interdisciplinary programs. Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies is an interdisciplinary liberal arts college at Western Washington University. Since opening its doors in 1967, Fairhaven's entire curriculum has been taught through interdisciplinary studies.

The University of Pennsylvania has a thriving [Philosophy, Politics and Economics] program that encourages students to do research in interdisciplinary areas and hires its own faculty. The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn) is a private University located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

The School of Interdisciplinary Studies, also known as the Western College Program, was created in 1974 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Miami University (colloquially and incorrectly referred to as Miami of Ohio for clarification purposes is a Coeducational Public university founded in 1809 The program allowed students to take control of their educational path by designing their own major, incorporating various areas of study at Miami University to form an interdisciplinary focus. Despite an outstanding record of student accomplishments in the program, it was closed by the Board of Trustees effective June 2008.

A grass-roots effort by faculty and students at Stanford University resulted in a new program called Bio-X, which explores the intersections among biology, computer science, medicine, and engineering. Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University or simply Stanford, is a private Research university located in Stanford University Bio-X Initiative is part of Stanford University and is located in the James H The program is housed in the Clark Center, which opened in 2003. The James H Clark Center (also abbreviated to the Clark Center) at Stanford University is a building completed in 2003, that houses interdisciplinary

Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, is a research intensive university with a rapidly growing Interdisciplinary PhD program, now at 70 students. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The demographics of this group is dramatically different from all of the other PhD programs on campus, with individuals designing their own programs to respond to individual career goals in industry, government and academic.

Truman State University, a liberal arts university in Kirksville, Missouri, has recently taken another approach to interdisciplinarity. Truman State University is a public liberal arts and sciences University in Missouri and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts The term liberal arts refers to a particular type of educational Curriculum broadly defined as a Classical education. Kirksville is the county seat of Adair County, Missouri, United States. Missouri ( or) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee A new General Education requirement sees that all students take at least one interdisciplinary course before graduation. The university has also developed a process by which students accepted to the interdisciplinary studies major program may design their own majors with the help of a faculty mentor.

Historical examples

There are many examples of when a particular idea, almost on the same period, arises in different disciplines. One case is the shift from the approach of focusing on "specialized segments of attention" (adopting one particular perspective), to the idea of "instant sensory awareness of the whole", an attention to the "total field", a "sense of the whole pattern, of form and function as a unity", an "integral idea of structure and configuration". This has happened in painting (with cubism), physics, poetry, communication and educational theory. Cubism was a 20th century Avant-garde Art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European Education theory is the Theory or the Philosophy of the purpose application and interpretation of Education and Learning. According to Marshall McLuhan, this paradigm shift was due to the passage from an era shaped by mechanization, which brought sequentiality, to the era shaped by the instant speed of electricity, which brought simultaneity. Paradigm shift, sometimes known as extraordinary science or revolutionary science, is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his influential Mechanization or mechanisation ( BE) is providing human operators with machinery to assist them with the physical requirements of work ^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b Ausburg, Tanya. Becoming Interdisciplinary: An Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies. 2nd edition. New York: Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 2006.
^ Klein, Julie Thompson. Interdisciplinarity: History, Theory, and Practice. Detroit: Wayne State University, 1990.
^ Gunn, Giles. "Interdisciplinary Studies. " Gibaldi, J. , ed. Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Language and Literatures. New York: Modern Language Association, 1992. pp 239-240.
^ Marshall McLuhan (1964) Understanding Media, p. 13 [1]

External links

Labyrinthe. Atelier interdisciplinaire (a journal in French), with a recent special issue on La Fin des Disciplines?
an article about interdisciplinary modeling in French with an English abstract : http://www.afscet.asso.fr/resSystemica/V4-2004/entete-2004.html
Dieter Wolf, [2] Unity of Knowledge. American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of the United States. Anthropological theories of value attempt to expand on the traditional theories of value used by economists or ethicists. Astrobiology (from Greek grc ἄστρον astron, "constellation star" grc βίος bios, "life" and grc -λογία In the Humanities and Social sciences, area studies are Interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to a particular geographical Biomedical engineering ( BME) is the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field Biomedical informatics is the broad discipline concerned with the study and application of Computer science, Information science, Informatics, Cognitive Biomedical technology involves the application of Engineering and Technology principles to the domain of living or biological Systems Usually biomedical Biophysics (also biological physics) is an Interdisciplinary Science that employs and develops theories and methods of the Physical sciences for Cognitive science may be broadly defined as the multidisciplinary study of mind and behavior Computer graphics are Graphics created by Computers and more generally the Representation and Manipulation of Pictorial Data Crossdisciplinarity describes any method project and research activity that examines a subject outside the scope of its own Discipline without cooperation or integration from Cultural studies is an academic discipline which combines Political economy, Communication, Sociology, Social theory, Literary theory Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the Structure of Complex systems especially Communication processes control mechanisms and Feedback Disciplinary is a term used to describe types of knowledge expertise skills people projects communities problems challenges studies inquiry approaches and research areas that Econophysics is an interdisciplinary research field applying theories and methods originally developed by physicists in order to solve problems in Economics, usually Environmental science is the study of interactions among physical chemical and biological components of the environment. Evolutionary psychology ( EP) attempts to explain mental and psychological traits ��such as Memory, Perception, Film theory debates the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film's relationship to Reality, the other Arts individual Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία - geografia) is the study of the Earth and its lands features inhabitants and phenomena Holism in science, or Holistic science, is an approach to Research that emphasizes the study of Complex systems. Integrative Learning is a learning theory describing a movement toward integrated lessons helping students make connections across curricula Intelligence (abbreviated int or intel) is not Information, but the product of evaluated information valued for its currency and relevance rather than Liberal arts colleges are primarily colleges with an emphasis upon Undergraduate study in the Liberal arts. Library science is an Interdisciplinary Science incorporating the Humanities, Law and Applied science to study topics related to Media studies is a collection of academic programs regarding the content history meaning and effects of various media. Multidisciplinarity is a non-integrative mixture of disciplines in that each discipline retains its methodologies and assumptions without change or development from other disciplines within Music psychology, or the psychology of music may be regarded either as a branch of Psychology or as a branch of Musicology. Nanotechnology, sometimes shortened to nanotech, refers to a field of Applied science whose theme is the control of matter on an Atomic and Molecular For nativism as a political force see Nativism. In the field of Psychology, nativism is the view that certain skills or abilities Political economy originally was the term for studying production buying and selling and their relations with law custom and government Science studies is an interdisciplinary research area that seeks to situate scientific Expertise in a broad social historical and philosophical context Science and technology studies (STS is the study of how social political and cultural values affect scientific research and technological innovation and how these in turn affect society Soil science is the study of Soil as a Natural resource on the surface of the Earth including soil formation, classification and mapping Systems thinking is a unique approach to problem solving in that it views certain "problems" as parts of an overall system rather than focusing on individual outcomes and contributing Systems theory is an Interdisciplinary field of Science and the study of the nature of Complex systems in Nature, Society, and Overview In scientific contexts the term 'transdisciplinarity' is used in various ways Transdisciplinary Studies are an area of research and education that addresses contemporary issues that cannot be solved by one or even a few points-of-view Translation studies is the branch of the Humanities dealing with the systematic interdisciplinary study of the theory the description and the application of Translation Urban Studies is the term for a diverse range of disciplines and approaches to the study of all aspects of cities their suburbs and other urban areas The unity of knowledge An Interdisciplinary Project
Soka University of America has no disciplinary departments and emphasizes interdisciplinary concentrations in the Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences, International Studies, and Environmental Studies. Soka University of America ( SUA) is a Private university located in Aliso Viejo, California, United States.

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