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Interdisciplinary

The document discusses the concepts of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary work. Multidisciplinary involves incorporating aspects of multiple disciplines, while interdisciplinary work occurs at the intersections of disciplines and involves fluidly shifting between perspectives and tools from different fields. The goal of the summer school described is to expose students to a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary work, methods, and tools in order to help them develop interdisciplinary skills and serve as examples after the program ends.

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Joyae Chavez
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107 views22 pages

Interdisciplinary

The document discusses the concepts of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary work. Multidisciplinary involves incorporating aspects of multiple disciplines, while interdisciplinary work occurs at the intersections of disciplines and involves fluidly shifting between perspectives and tools from different fields. The goal of the summer school described is to expose students to a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary work, methods, and tools in order to help them develop interdisciplinary skills and serve as examples after the program ends.

Uploaded by

Joyae Chavez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is Interdisciplinary?

Discipline
(and punish? :-)

Physics Chemistry

Biology Mathematics Economics

Psychology Etc.
Or . . .

Physics
Chemistry
Biology

Social Sciences

Etc.
q
Or . . .

Mathematics

Real World
But is this really . . .

Mathematics

Real World
Back to this version . . .

Physics Chemistry

Biology Mathematics Economics

Psychology Etc.
Multidisciplinary involves
pieces of more than one

Physics Chemistry

Biology Mathematics Economics

Psychology Etc.
Some disciplines seem to lend
themselves easily to this . . .

Mathematics

Physics Biology Chemistry Psychology Economics

Etc.
Or . . .

Computer
Science

Physics Biology Chemistry Psychology Economics

Etc.
Or, some claim . . .

Philosophy

Physics Biology Chemistry Psychology Economics

Etc.
Interdisciplinary, on the other
hand, lives in interstices:
Philosop
Linguistics
hy

Cognitive
Biology Computing
Science

Psychology Etc.
Eventually (or often, or
hopefully) it goes both ways:
Philosop
Linguistics
hy

Cognitive
Biology Computing
Science

Psychology Etc.
Another traditional example:

Geograp
Economics
hy

Biology Ecology Management

Poly. Sci. Etc.


Sometimes, these become new
disciplines:
Geograp
Economics
hy

Biology Ecology Management

Poly. Sci. Etc.


Of course, this Summer School
is:

Physics Economics

Complex
Biology Computing
Systems

Poly. Sci. Etc.


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 . . .
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 . . .)
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


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 . . .
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
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 . . .
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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