ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Interdisciplinarity in Francophone Education: The Weal and Woe of a Research Journey
Author: Lenoir, Yves
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Interdisciplinary Approach,Educational Research,Elementary Education,Teacher Education,Professional Education,Elementary School Teachers,English,French,Portuguese,Curriculum Evaluation,Evaluation Criteria,Curriculum Development,Educational Change,Educational Practices

This article presents elements from the research journey pursued by the author in the area of interdisciplinarity in education, and more specifically in elementary education, which he has been studying for 30 years. The text begins by presenting the reasons that led to undertaking doctoral studies on this issue. It then addresses the foundations of the conceptual frame of reference used by the author in performing research studies. The article then examines three results that emerge from this research: a conceptual clarification of the notion of interdisciplinarity with respect to curricula and professional training; certain empirical findings on the conception and practice of interdisciplinarity among elementary school teachers; and the existence of three interpretive logics of interdisciplinarity associated with three distinct cultures--English-speaking American, French-speaking European, and Portuguese-speaking Latin American. To conclude, the article proposes a definition of interdisciplinarity in schools based on the Francophone reality, along with three principles for promoting an integrative approach in teaching-learning relationships.
Caught in the Act: Integrative Studies Where I Least Expected It
Author: Williams, Jeff
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Interdisciplinary Approach,Specialization,Public Policy,Higher Education,Creative Thinking

Weaving together stories from history, as well as his own experience, Mr. Williams speaks about how critical public works and policy questions cannot be solved by people trained in one discipline in isolation--arguing that the hyper-specialization of the 20th century swung the pendulum too far. He closes with a reminder of how integrative studies is one of the best ways to prepare individuals for life and work in the global economy.
Starting with Worldviews: A Five-Step Preparatory Approach to Integrative Interdisciplinary Learning
Author: Augsburg, Tanya
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Undergraduate Students,Integrated Activities,Interdisciplinary Approach,World Views,Sequential Approach,Sequential Learning,Transformative Learning,Class Activities,Sense of Community,Writing (Composition),Reflection,Video Technology,Television Viewing,Discussion (Teaching Technique),Writing Exercises,Writing Across the Curriculum,Writing Assignments,Autobiographies

In this article we propose a five-step sequenced approach to integrative interdisciplinary learning in undergraduate gateway courses. Drawing from the literature of interdisciplinarity, transformative learning theory, and theories of reflective learning, we utilize a sequence of five steps early in our respective undergraduate gateway courses to foster preliminary lessons crucial for integrative interdisciplinary learning. Collectively, these steps help students recognize their own worldviews evan as they will eventually understand and value the multiple disciplinary perspectives to be integrated in interdisciplinary work. The five steps discussed in this article are initial community-building activities, a class viewing of a segment from &quot;The Muppet Show&quot; featuring Harry Belafonte, a combination of class and small group discussion, an intellectual autobiography assignment, and our adaptations of &quot;Smith Magazine's&quot; Six-Word Memoirs.
The State of the Field: Interdisciplinary Theory
Author: Newell, William H.
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Interdisciplinary Approach,Educational Theories,Educational Development,Definitions,Best Practices,Educational Research,Research Needs,Educational History,Intellectual History,Teamwork,Educational Practices

This chronological overview of the development of interdisciplinary theory starts with the pre-cursors of theory: the development and elaboration of the definition of interdisciplinary studies, influential but problematic images of interdisciplinary studies proposed by Donald Campbell and Erich Jantsch, and best practices in interdisciplinary studies identified through AIS. It continues with a review of the motivation behind a theory of interdisciplinary studies, the controversy it engendered, and an assessment of what remains to be done. It concludes with the challenges to theory posed by new types of interdisciplinary studies, especially transdisciplinary studies and the science of team science.
Contributions of Interdisciplinary Studies to Civic Learning: An Addendum to &quot;A Crucible Moment&quot;
Author: Newell, William H.
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Interdisciplinary Approach,Citizenship Education,Democratic Values,Learning,Values,Skills,Pregnancy,Controversial Issues (Course Content),Educational Research,Scholarship

Though overlooked or at best implicit in &quot;A Crucible Moment,&quot; interdisciplinary studies has much to contribute to civic learning for democratic engagement. The article organizes those contributions into the report's categories of knowledge, values, and skills. It concludes with an example of how techniques used in interdisciplinary studies to create common ground can contribute to fruitful democratic discourse on even the thorniest of societal issues, namely abortion. [See: &quot;A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy's Future. A National Call to Action&quot; at ED528786.]
The Circulation of Knowledge as an Interdisciplinary Process: Travelling Concepts, Analogies and Metaphors
Author: Darbellay, Frédéric
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Interdisciplinary Approach,Knowledge Management,Figurative Language,Educational Theories,Educational Methods,Concept Formation,Logical Thinking,Scholarship,Learning,Educational Practices

In our society in which communication is so wide-ranging and rapid we are witnessing a significant increase in the pace at which knowledge is produced and disseminated. Bodies of knowledge intersect as they cross borders between disciplines in the human and social sciences, and in the natural sciences, life sciences, and technological sciences. How do concepts, theories, and methods circulate, and how are they exchanged, borrowed, transferred, and transformed, when they cross from one discipline to another? In what ways does this interdisciplinary practice constitute a creative gain in the production of new knowledge, enabling us to understand problems that are impossible to solve from the perspective of a single discipline? The present article addresses these issues by defending the idea that, like other &quot;modi operandi,&quot; interdisciplinarity is promoted by the circulation of concepts, theories, and methods, and by analogy or transfer across and beyond disciplinary borders that appear closed. The article is also an appeal for arbitrary borders between communities of subject specialists to be transcended, for creative but rigorous thinking in all subject areas, and for researchers to adopt an interdisciplinary outlook.
Analysis of Individual &quot;Test Of Astronomy STandards&quot; (TOAST) Item Responses
Author: Slater, Stephanie J.
Date: 2015-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Academic Standards,Astronomy,College Science,Student Surveys,Undergraduate Students,Responses,Scientific Concepts,Misconceptions,Knowledge Level,Test Validity,Construct Validity,Criterion Referenced Tests

The development of valid and reliable strategies to efficiently determine the knowledge landscape of introductory astronomy college students is an effort of great interest to the astronomy education community. This study examines individual item response rates from a widely used conceptual understanding survey, the Test Of Astronomy Standards (TOAST). The TOAST, a 27-item, multiple-choice format, criterion-referenced test, addresses both the full range of topics commonly taught in a one- or two-semester undergraduate introductory astronomy survey courses, and concepts described in various national science education standards, frameworks, and reform documents. The present study involves an examination of responses by 1104 participants, allowing for a rigorous item-by-item and distractor-by-distractor analysis of students' responses. The results suggest that each individual TOAST item is functioning appropriately across a broad range of students, and has sufficient sensitivity to identify notable student misconceptions. These results also provide an opportunity to identify target areas of opportunity for astronomy education researchers that remain largely unstudied.
Building Students' Integrative Thinking Capacities: A Case Study in Economics and History
Author: Abbott, William
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Thinking Skills,Integrated Activities,History Instruction,Economics Education,Case Studies,Interdisciplinary Approach,Delivery Systems,Intermode Differences,Team Teaching,Unified Studies Curriculum,Course Organization,Reading Assignments,Writing Assignments,Student Projects,College Students

Having engaged in interdisciplinary team-teaching in both the two-course cluster format and the single course format, we intend to show how we helped students recognize and find their own integrative insights between the disciplines of history and economics. In the process we not only compare the advantages and disadvantages of each format but also illustrate more fully the differences between multidisciplinarity and true integration. We show (1) how the weaknesses and strengths of our two disciplines complement each other, (2) how the different goals of each discipline can be reached using the methods of the other, and (3) how appropriately-designed readings, writing assignments, group presentations, and other activities can help students to achieve the goals of integrative interdisciplinary pedagogy.
Elementary Student Knowledge Gains in the Digital Portable Planetarium
Author: Carsten-Conner, Laura D.
Date: 2015-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Elementary School Science,Astronomy,Pretests Posttests,Surveys,Knowledge Level,Recreational Facilities,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Technology,Grade 4,Interviews,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis

Immersive environments hold promise to provide unique and heightened sensory experiences that focus a learner's attention, and thus may be useful learning platforms. In particular, portable planetariums may be useful in advancing conceptual knowledge about the night sky, because they afford learners with Earth-based views of celestial motions, give learners a sense of &quot;being there,&quot; and allow direct observation of celestial motions. In this study, we asked whether a digital portable planetarium show would aid students in understanding celestial motions, as well as acquiring generalized astronomy-related knowledge. Results from our pre and post surveys suggest that students make gains in knowledge about both apparent celestial motion and general astronomy concepts after viewing a 25-minute planetarium presentation. Our results suggest that the portable planetarium may be a useful strategy in supporting learners as they struggle with reconciling observed patterns with underlying, non-observable motions of the Earth, and with visualizing concepts such as the speed of planetary orbits relative to their position with respect to the sun.
Integrative Learning: A Grounded Theory
Author: Leonard, Jeannie Brown
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Undergraduate Students,Cognitive Style,Integrated Activities,Interdisciplinary Approach,Student Attitudes,Definitions,Grounded Theory,Learning Processes,Cognitive Development,Synthesis,Outcomes of Education,Program Descriptions,Learning Activities,Relevance (Education),Perspective Taking,Qualitative Research,Interviews

This article reports the findings from a study of undergraduate students in an academic program focused on integrative learning rather than interdisciplinarity. One aspect of this study included how students defined integrative learning. This participant-shaped understanding of integrative learning was broad and reflected a continuum of integration. The researcher labeled the four forms of integration in this continuum Application, Comparison, Understanding Context, and Synthesis. A developmental theory of how students become integrative learners emerged from the investigation. Students engaged in Application when they found course work personally relevant and meaningful; students performed Comparison when they learned to identify and evaluate multiple perspectives; students who evaluated competing claims or engaged conflicting viewpoints were Understanding Context. If conflict was reconciled, Synthesis was possible, but not achieved. Synthesis is the most complex form of integration and, although students agreed Synthesis is an ideal, they did not report examples of experiences that demonstrated this capacity. This article compares the learning outcomes of an academic program that privileges integrative learning with the outcomes of programs that are intentionally interdisciplinary.
Blazing the Trail for Astronomy Education Research
Author: Bailey, Janelle M.
Date: 2015-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Research,Astronomy,Higher Education,College Science,Science Instruction,Student Research,Graduate Study,College Faculty,Periodicals

Education research has long considered student learning of topics in astronomy and the space sciences, but astronomy education research as a sub-field of discipline-based education research is relatively new. Driven by a growing interest among higher education astronomy educators in improving the general education, introductory science survey course for non-science majoring undergraduates (&quot;ASTRO 101&quot;), contemporary astronomy education research is led by scholars with significant expertise in astronomy content. In this review, we outline the recent history of the growing field of discipline-based astronomy education research by analyzing graduate degrees earned, faculty involved, and major milestones, such as the appearance of archival, peer-reviewed professional journals. Astronomy education research as a field of discipline-based education research has made notable strides in the past few decades that distinguish it from the K-12 education research realm, and, in spite of some setbacks, continues to move forward as a growing and vibrant community of scholars.
Crowdfunding Astronomy Research with Google Sky
Author: Metcalfe, Travis S.
Date: 2015-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Astronomy,Financial Support,Laboratory Equipment,Scientific Research,Fund Raising,Technology

For nearly four years, NASA's Kepler space telescope searched for planets like Earth around more than 150,000 stars similar to the Sun. In 2008 with in-kind support from several technology companies, our non-profit organization established the Pale Blue Dot Project, an adopt-a-star program that supports scientific research on the stars observed by the Kepler mission. To help other astronomy educators conduct successful fundraising efforts, I describe how this innovative crowdfunding program successfully engaged the public over the past seven years to help support an international team in an era of economic austerity.
Prior Knowledge Base of Constellations and Bright Stars among Non-Science Majoring Undergraduates and 14-15 Year Old Students
Author: Hintz, Eric G.
Date: 2015-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Secondary School Students,Grade 9,Undergraduate Students,Nonmajors,Comparative Analysis,Science Education,Introductory Courses,Astronomy,Prior Learning,Scores,Knowledge Level,Statistical Significance,Accuracy,Adolescents,Pretests Posttests,Statistical Analysis,Learning Experience,Data Collection

As part of an effort to improve students' knowledge of constellations and bright stars in an introductory level descriptive astronomy survey course, we measured the baseline knowledge that students bring to the class and how their score evolve over the course of the semester. This baseline is needed by the broader astronomy education research community for future comparisons about which strategies and environments are the best for learning the stars and constellations. As a comparison group, we also examined the baseline knowledge of 14-15 year old, 9th grade students from the United States. 664 university students averaged 2.04 ± 0.08 on a constellation knowledge survey, while 46 additional students averaged higher at 8.23 ± 0.23. The large, lower scoring group is found to have the same knowledge level as the 14-15 year old 9th grade students which scored 1.79 ± 0.13. The constellations most often identified correctly were Orion and Ursa Major. For the star portion of the survey, which was only given to the university students, we found essentially no statistically significant prior knowledge for the 17 brightest stars surveyed. The average score for the stars was 1.05 ± 0.05, as expected for guessing, although Polaris and Betelgeuse are labeled correctly more often than any other stars.
Position Paper on Use of Stereoscopy to Support Science Learning: Ten Years of Research
Author: Price, C. Aaron
Date: 2015-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Position Papers,Science Instruction,Science Education,Cognitive Processes,Difficulty Level,Spatial Ability,Astronomy,Technological Advancement,Science Teachers,Technology Uses in Education,Computer Uses in Education,Visualization

Stereoscopy's potential as a tool for science education has been largely eclipsed by its popularity as an entertainment platform and marketing gimmick. Dozens of empirical papers have been published in the last decade about the impact of stereoscopy on learning. As a result, a corpus of research now points to a coherent message about how, when, and where stereoscopy can be most effective in supporting science education. This position paper synthesizes that research with examples from three studies recently completed and published by the authors of this paper. Results of the synthesis point towards generally limited successful uses of stereoscopic media in science education with a pocket of potentially beneficial applications. Our position is that stereoscopy should be used only where its unique properties can accommodate specific requirements of understanding topics and tasks--namely visualizations where the spatial sense of depth is germane to conveying core ideas and cognitive load is high. Stereoscopy's impact on learning is also related to the spatial ability of the viewer. More research is needed on the effect of novelty, long-term learning and possible learning differences between the various methods of implementing stereoscopy.
Using a Digital Planetarium for Teaching Seasons to Undergraduates
Author: Yu, Ka Chun
Date: 2015-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Undergraduate Students,Geography Instruction,Computer Simulation,Visualization,Astronomy,Multiple Choice Tests,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Teaching Methods,Museums,Achievement Gains,Science Course Improvement Projects,Instructional Effectiveness,Introductory Courses,Student Surveys,Interviews,Statistical Analysis,Pretests Posttests

Computer-generated simulations and visualizations in digital planetariums have the potential to bridge the comprehension gap in astronomy education. Concepts involving three-dimensional spatial relationships can be difficult for the layperson to understand, since much of the traditional teaching materials used in astronomy education remain two-dimensional in nature. We study the student performance after viewing visualizations in an immersive theater and in non-immersive classrooms for the topic of seasons in an introductory undergraduate astronomy course. Using weekly multiple-choice quizzes to gauge student learning, comparison of curriculum tests taken immediately after instruction and pre-instruction quizzes show a significant difference in the results of students who viewed visualizations in the planetarium versus their counterparts who viewed non-immersive content in their classrooms, and those in the control group that saw no visualizations whatsoever. These results suggest that the immersive visuals help by freeing up cognitive resources that can be devoted to learning, while visualizations shown in the classroom may be an intrinsically inferior experience for students.
An Essay on Interactive Investigations of the Zeeman Effect in the Interstellar Medium
Author: Woolsey, Lauren
Date: 2015-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Science Instruction,Learning Modules,Magnets,Scientific Concepts,College Science,Computer Software,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Technology,Physics,Energy,Astronomy

The paper presents an interactive module created through the Wolfram Demonstrations Project that visualizes the Zeeman effect for the small magnetic field strengths present in the interstellar medium. The paper provides an overview of spectral lines and a few examples of strong and weak Zeeman splitting before discussing the module in depth. Student discovery is aided with example situations to investigate using the interactive module, which is targeted at the upper undergraduate or early graduate level. This module (http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/ TheZeemanEffectInTheInterstellarMedium), which uses free software, can be used in classroom activities or as a means of introducing students to the Wolfram Demonstrations Project as a learning resource.
Interdisciplines and Interdisciplinarity: Political Psychology and Psychohistory Compared
Author: Fuchsman, Ken
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Interdisciplinary Approach,Political Science,Psychology,History,Intellectual Disciplines,Definitions,Comparative Analysis,Integrated Activities

Interdisciplines are specialties that connect ideas, methods, and findings from existing disciplines. Political psychology and psychohistory are interdisciplines which should have much in common, but even where they clearly intersect, their approaches usually diverge. Part of the reason for their dissimilarity lies in what each takes and rejects from the parent fields. Political psychology and psychohistory both select certain approaches from the array of contending discourses within their respective disciplines; they favor congenial outlooks and methods, while underplaying or ignoring other pertinent perspectives. This results in an incomplete exploration of their own subject matter and little interaction between them. Ideally, interdisciplines should involve a bidirectional exchange between the main trends in each specialty, but that is not always the case. Many scholars in these two specialties function within a conceptual comfort zone uninterested in some relevant bodies of research. Their insularity indicates that diverging viewpoints may exist in almost parallel intellectual universes. To illustrate these and other issues, I discuss definitions of each field, describe the parent disciplines and how political psychology and psychohistory relate to them, explore the methodology, accomplishments, and dilemmas of both interdisciplines, and, finally, evaluate the significance of these findings for disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies.