IMPACT: The Journal of the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning. Volume 11, Issue 2, Summer 2022
Date
2022
DOI
Authors
Bickford, Crystal
Chiteji, Ngina
Hughes, Jeanne M.
Mackey, John W.
Oliveira, Justina M.
Schweitzer, Marlis
Turner, Rob
Williamson, Jeanine
Version
OA Version
Citation
IMPACT 11(2), Summer 2022. Boston University College of General Studies
Abstract
The essays in this issue explore interdisciplinarity in the classroom and/or education.
Our first contributor argues that making the economics curriculum more interdisciplinary corrects some common
American misconceptions about Africa and encourages students to develop a richer understanding of
both economics and Africa, while also teaching students that Africa need not be relegated merely to economic
development courses and instead shows how Africa, particularly the Swahili Coast, was both inventive and
innovative.
In our second contribution, three authors writing together explore the power of storytelling in interdisciplinary
learning communities, or cohorts of first-semester students enrolled in general-education classes that connect
through a common theme. The authors detail how they developed their learning community around storytelling,
while also arguing that interdisciplinary learning communities grounded in storytelling are high-impact
practices that help students connect to their school community, classes, and to each other and to see their
learning as relevant in their lives.
Using two classification schemes (Biglan’s disciplinary classification scheme and Holland’s hexagon of occupational
interests and personality characteristics) that are relevant for understanding collaborations between
disciplines in multidisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary education to analyze disciplinary collaborations in education,
our third contributor measured the correlation between the two classification systems to determine the
relationship between them. Based on the study, the author argues the two classification schemes and their
relationships provide helpful frameworks for understanding disciplinary similarities and differences, while also
providing important insights about how members of collaborating disciplines may complement or differ with
one another.
Description
License
Copyright © 2022 by the College of General Studies, Boston University. Impact provides free and open access to all of its research publications. There is no charge to authors for publication, and the journal abides by a CC-BY license. Authors published in Impact retain copyright on their articles, except for any third-party images and other materials added by Impact, which are subject to copyright of their respective owners. Authors are therefore free to disseminate and re-publish their articles, subject to any requirements of third-party copyright owners and subject to the original publication being fully cited. Visitors may download and forward articles subject to the citation requirements; all copyright notices must be displayed.