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Author: Ida Kemp

Interdisciplinary Learning – getting the most out of multi-subject degrees

Updated Monday, 7 February 2022
The advantages of studying more than one subject and the future forward for learning.

A girl with glasses looking at a number of books If you are studying more than one subject as part of your qualification, there is an exciting opportunity to find ways in which those subjects intersect and influence each other. The academic environment is a setting where the pursuit of knowledge is often very focussed; where a single train of thought is welcomed and even encouraged, and where a single conclusion is the goal. It is different in the ‘real world’ where knowledge needs to transform boundaries and needs to be applicable in a number of contexts. When you study different subjects, you are introduced to different approaches to knowledge and different ways in which ‘knowledge’ is constructed and understood. This is one of the many advantages to studying more than one subject. It allows you to learn in different ways, forces you to think in different methods or styles and opens your mind to the different means by which knowledge is created or presented. The academic practice and knowledge which surrounds each subject can also be called a ‘discipline’ (see figure 1 here for related terminology around studying more than one discipline).

It is worth remembering that many academic disciplines are ‘constructions’ themselves, that they have been developed by people working in a particular field and that they offer a particular focus of knowledge. When we consider interdisciplinary learning (and teaching), we are working across boundaries of knowledge and creating new knowledge from various sources.

However, many of our traditional modern academic disciplines are newly created themselves. For example, when I started working, I was employed in a field that was considered interdisciplinary - the environment – encompassing a range of different, individual subjects. Now, “the Environment” can be considered its own discipline, with its own practices, approaches and conventions. “The Environment” demands a multidisciplinary approach, but it has also created its own set of interdisciplinary expectations and areas of knowledge. Many of our modern academic disciplines have developed in this way.

Students studying more than one subject (or discipline) have a unique opportunity to readdress those subjects and their approaches. I believe that multi-subject students are able to take ‘knowledge’ from one subject area and apply or compare it to another. Multi-subject students should always question how the knowledge has been created and how this can vary between different subjects. It teaches you to think critically about the subjects you are exploring and finding areas where there is convergence as well as areas which might seem to contradict. It is this relationship of knowledge which I think is essential for deeper understanding and the development of truly interdisciplinary learning. Vygotsky’s work in learning in children suggests that children learn in relation to what they already know. By fully understanding one topic, you can build on that knowledge in relation to what you already understand. Multi-subject study makes this easier, because instead of building up a ladder, you are building around a topic and able to explore it from different angles, a bit more like a hill, perhaps. The thing about the hill is that it allows more flexibility in moving ‘up’ in knowledge, and is also conducive to spreading that knowledge in different areas, which are connected. If you extend this approach to interdisciplinary learning, you can see the benefits of how you might be able to really generate new knowledge across different subjects.

Conceptual illustration of international academic education with a globe, graduation cap and the symbols of various sciences By learning in one context, you should be able to extend that knowledge in both the original context and in a new subject by thinking about how they might relate to each other. Do they work together? Do they seem to work apart? This approach leads to a deeper learning and understanding and ultimately interdisciplinary thought and understanding, which can be beneficial in the workplace. It is that relationship building of knowledge that can allow for deeper understanding and highlight the patterns that are common between different subjects.

This is not easy. Not only is it difficult to think in new ways, it is also the case that there may not be any hard and fast rules to how to express your interdisciplinary work. The beauty of the single-subject approach is that once you have mastered the ‘rules’ of the subject (or discipline), achieving a good mark seems well within reach. In a culture where a summative assessment, and subsequent mark, is the indicator of knowledge, an approach that ignores this advantage can also be seen as risky. But, I think it is only risky in the short term. Longer term, the learning that is done in relation to what is already known will make more sense and help you to see things more clearly at the end. It can help to identify patterns or intersections between subjects, and ultimately achieve the profound knowledge that can be represented within a range of different subjects. And, using a ‘building’ approach to knowledge, learning by relating one thing to another, may offer a key to being able to think in a truly interdisciplinary way.

References & Credits

  • Vygotsky, L.S, (trans 1971) The Psychology of Art, M.I.T Press;
  • Vygotsky, L.S. (trans 1986) Thought and Language, M.I.T. Press
  • Holland, D. Integration Knowledge through Interdisciplinary Research: problems of theory and practice. London : Routledge, 2014, particularly Chapter 4.
  • Borrega, M. and Newswander, L.K. ‘Definitions of Interdisciplinary Research: Toward Graduate-Level Interdisciplinary Learning Outcomes’, The Review of Higher Education, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp 61-84, 2010
  • Karlqvist, A. Going beyond disciplines: The meanings of interdisciplinarity. Policy Sciences 32, 379-383, 1999, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands
  • Klein, J.T. Crossing Boundaries: Knowledge, Disciplinarities and Interdisciplinarities, Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1996.
  • Kuhn, T. The structure of scientific revolutions, Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 1996
  • Max-Neef, Manfred A. Foundations of transdisciplinarity, Ecological Economics, 53 (2005) 5-16

Figure 1. Terminology associated with studying more than one subject (Source: Helen Cooke, Open University)

 

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