Course-5 Understanding Disciplines and School Subjects pmd

a) Perspective Taking Techniques: The capacity to understand multiple viewpoints on a
given topic is improved. Students develop an appreciation of the differences between
disciplines and especially their perspectives on how to approach a problem.
b) Development of structural knowledge: Problem solving requires declarative knowledge
and procedural knowledge. Declarative knowledge is factual information related to the
problem and procedural knowledge is information about the process involved. Both these
are enhanced due to use of interdisciplinary learning.
c)  Integration of conflicting insights: Variety of ideas from different disciplines are
incorporated due to interdisciplinary approach. Rather than use approaches from a single
discipline, students are encouraged to look out for alternatives from different disciplines
and hence insights are enriched.
d) Interdisciplinary understanding increases and hence holistic thinking occurs. It
promotes higher order thinking skills such as creativity, critical and systems thinking,
synthesis, evaluation and analysis.
Interdisciplinary Learning and contemporary education
There is much emphasis on interdisciplinary learning in the 21st century. The
International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) incorporates interdisciplinary
learning supports students to understand bodies of knowledge from two or more disciplines
or subject groups, in order to integrate them and create new understanding. Students
demonstrate interdisciplinary understanding when they bring together concepts, methods,
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or forms of communication from two or more disciplines or established areas of expertise
so that they can explain a phenomenon, solve a problem, create a product, or raise a new
question in ways that would have been unlikely through a single discipline.
The National Curriculum Framework 2005 proposes five guiding principles for
curriculum development:(i) connecting knowledge to life outside the school; (ii) ensuring
that learning shifts away from rote methods; (iii) enriching the curriculum so that it goes
beyond textbooks; (iv) making examinations more flexible and integrating them with
classroom life; and (v) nurturing an overriding identity informed by caring concerns within
the democratic polity of our country. These principles are enshrined in the basics of
interdisciplinary learning. The executive summary of this landmark document categorically
states ‘The NCF recommends the softening of subject boundaries so that children can get a
taste of integrated knowledge and the joy of understanding’. A careful scrutiny of the
document shows that it supports interdisciplinary learning. One comes across statements
like ‘For an enabling curriculum, certain themes that facilitate interdisciplinary thinking
need to be incorporated’.
Here is an example of how Interdisciplinary learning is visualized for the topic
‘Migration’.