ERIC Number: EJ776474
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-May
Pages: 34
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0034-527X
EISSN: N/A
Toward a Theory of Interdisciplinary Connections: A Classroom Study of Talk and Text
Nowacek, Rebecca S.
Research in the Teaching of English, v41 n4 p368-401 May 2007
Despite the general trend to embrace interdisciplinarity in post-secondary education, we remain remarkably unclear concerning what we mean by interdisciplinarity and how it is achieved. Reporting on research conducted in a team-taught interdisciplinary course, I propose a new way of conceptualizing interdisciplinary connections, grounded in Bakhtinian theories of language and cognition. I offer a three-part schema for identifying the discursive disciplinary resources individuals use to make interdisciplinary connections and identify some broad characteristics of writing assignments that appear to invite students to make connections among disciplines. Finally, I argue that reflection on certain types of interdisciplinary connections can be an extremely powerful resource for interdisciplinary as well as disciplinary thinking and learning. Assignments from the Interdisc II Sequence are appended. (Contains 1 note and 5 tables.)
Descriptors: Writing Assignments, Interdisciplinary Approach, Definitions, Identification, Connected Discourse, Classification, Epistemology
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A