The Development of Interdisciplinary Thinking in the New Postmodern Education

Introduction Many educators are facing controversial issues and situations since postmodernist theory was introduced to the field of education. Under such circumstances, the historical review would be necessary for re-examining this issue. Back in the era of the Enlightenment, which gave birth to modernism, many people's beliefs in the transcendental origins were lost, and replaced by placing reason at the center of all beliefs. Thus, the viewpoint of what the "I" sees in the moment was abandoned in favor of a view of the world which was seen as being instantly changeable, and was determined by the circulation of all forms of segmented knowledge. As a result of this idea being adopted, the notion of the "I" was no longer conceptual but logical; and no longer consistent but fragmented. Furthermore, since in the modernist frame of reference the absolute truth cannot be found as the meaning of life, the lack of a spiritual center advances the primacy of the personal perspective which becomes the only true measure of "reality". The modernists thus suggested that each individual should seek to discover how their own point of view creates a framework for their individual perception of reality. For example, the theory of the "invisible hand of market" (Smith, 2012) can appear to create a miracle. It replaces the old order by emphasizing the idea that the motivation behind self-interest is intrinsically beneficial to society. An individual acts in his or her own self-interest, thereby opening the way to a diversity of interests and multiple references. (1) . If she or he wishes to gain quick access to knowledge, the ascetic and procedural modes are useless and need to be replaced by the expanding and informative mode. This kind of suggestion, related to the belief that realities are "subject to change," can consequently become the clear focus of personal interest. After modernism, postmodernism had a substantial impact on society, and some scholars' studies associate it with the diversification of multicultural studies in postmodern education, despite cultural differences. With the information flow across the borders of countries, people have developed a greater awareness of all humanity as members of our global village. Thus, "in the fragmenting cultural configurations of our multicultural societies, postmodern diversification of education arrangements is both good and inevitable. ' (2) (Green, 1997) Many postmodernists indicate that the diversification of the postmodern education can direct our students to explore their personal values with regard to multiple choices they are able to make. The hope that such an approach will encourage educators to consider and employ the various alternative approaches to prevent the bureaucratic standardization of curriculum stifling creativity. Development of the interdisciplinary thinking and learning Actually, as many scholars have pointed out, our global village actually can be divided into two different parts: one is subject to individualism and the other to authoritarianism. The first area is mostly located mainly in western countries and the East Asian areas, such as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong where the societies generally accept the western modern socio-cultural lifestyles and systems. , Here the central idea, postmodernism, postulates that a certain amount of what are called "realities" are in fact socially-constructed and dynamic, and, thus, subject to change. The postmodernist approaches consider the ways in which social dynamics overall are socially constructed and used. In this way, the East Asian countries on the one hand make progress in every domain. But on the other hand, the way people perceive the world's "realities" is plural and relative. The postmodernist perspective claims that there is no absolute truth. In other words, the way of seeing depends on the interested parties are and on the nature of their interests. …