Interdisciplinary Research: Process and Theory – Flashcards

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interdisciplinarity
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conceptual essence of interdisciplinary work
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intergration
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"to make whole," a process in which ideas, data and info, methods., tools, concepts, and/or theories from 2 or more disciplines are synthesized, connected, or blended.
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Generalist interdisciplinarians
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perception - "any form of dialog between 2 or more disciplines"
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Integrationist interdisciplinarians
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believe that integration should be the GOAL of interdisciplinary work b/c this will address the complexity of the problem at hand
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academic disciplines
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scholarly communities who specify what to study, organize theories, used certain methods of investigation, share research, offer career paths for scholars
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interdisciplines
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fields of study that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries and involve a wide variety of interactions
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traditional disciplines
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three broad categories - natural sciences, social sciences, humanities
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applied fields
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business, communications, criminal justice, education, engineering, law, medicine, and social work
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subdiscipline
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a branch of an existing discipline
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contested space/contested terrain
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the in between space among disciplines, problems, issues, causes, questions that are focus of SEVERAL disciplines
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insights
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information derived from 2 or more fields of study/disciplines, integrated by the interdisciplinarian
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integrative process
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creating common ground between conflicting insights into a single problem from 2 or more disciplines
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studies
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a wide array of knowledge of domains, cross disciplinary,
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scholarship
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a contribution of knowledge, public, for critique, accessible among scholarly community
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natural sciences
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tell us about the world, what its made of, and its complex network of interdependent systems
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disciplinary
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related to a field of study
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curriculum
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universal core of knowledge divided into specific courses
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"inter" refers to
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congested space, action, cognitive advancement
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mapping a problem
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breaking it down
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elephant house fable
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by Lawrence Wheeler, fable about building a house for an elephant using a multidisciplinary approach to solve a complex problem
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instrumental interdisciplinarity
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problem-driven, pragmatic approach that focuses on research, borrowing, and practical problem solving in response to the external demands of society
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critical interdisciplinarity
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social driven, interrogates the dominant structure of knowledge and education with the aim of transforming them, while raising epistemology and political questions of value and purpose
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integration of knowledge
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identifying and blending knowledge from relevant disciplines to produce an interdisciplinary understanding of a particular problem or intellectual question.
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IRP
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interdisciplinary research process
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What is the IRP?
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the "how" part of the definition of interdisciplinarity. p. 24
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knowledge production
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scholarly research published in the form of peer reviewed articles and books.
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metaphors
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a figure of speech such as "elephant house" fable p. 17
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mutidisciplinarity
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the study of 1 topic from the perspective of several disciplines at one time without attempt of integration, usually dominated by the home discipline's method
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transdisciplinarity
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what is at once between the disciplines, across different disciplines and beyond all disciplines. The goal is understanding the NOW, the solution of mega and complex problems by drawing on and seeking to integrate disciplinary and stakeholder views
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boundary crossing
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moving across knowledge formations to get a bigger understanding
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bridge building
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borrowing of tools and methods from disciplines, w/ 2 attractions: 1) the idea of showing how interdisciplinary activity is something that takes place between 2 disciplines. 2) the idea that interdisciplinary studies has an applied orientation. p. 27
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mapping
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a metaphor based on the idea of carving knowledge space is like cartography, involves using a combination or integrative method to map or display information that is gathered from a variety of sources. p. 27
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bilingualism
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inappropriate, implies mastery or proficiency in 2 complete languages.
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Klein's conclusion on metaphors
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"interdisciplinary activities cannot be depicted in a single image."
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2 dominate forms of interdisciplinarity
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instrumental and critical
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four primary and overlapping drivers of interdisciplinary research and learning
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the inherent complexity of nature and society, the desire to explore problems and questions that are not confined to a single discipline, the need to solve social problems, the need to produce revolutionary insights and generative technologies. p. 33
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complex systems theory
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concerns properties of complex systems in general, including how an overall pattern of behavior is generated, its characteristics and how it evolves over time or in response to changes in its environment. p.35
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hybridization
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the integration of specialties across disciplines
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biologist/philosopher E.O. Wilson (1998)
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consilience- the jumping together of knowledge across disciplines to create a common groundwork of explanation is the most promising oath to scientific advancement and human progress
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revolutionary insights
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ideas that have the capacity to transform how we learn, think, and produce new knowledge.
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generative technologies
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technologies whose novelty and power not only find applications of great value but also have the capacity to transform existing disciplines and generate new ones
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creative intelligence
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needed to formulate ideas and solutions to problems
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analytical intelligence
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needed to solve problems and to evaluate the quality of ideas
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practical intelligence
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needed to apply ideas in an effective way, in business or regular world
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successful intelligence
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balance among practical, analytical, and creative intelligence
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Robert J. Sternberg (1996)
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producing transformative insights and technologies require "successful intelligence"
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heuristics
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involves intuitive, speculative strategies that sometimes work and sometimes don't.
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creative thinking tools
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observing, imaging, abstracting, recognizing patterns, forming patterns, analogizing, body thinking, empathizing, dimensional thinking, modeling, transforming, and synthesizing
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intentional learners
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those who can integrate knowledge from different sources
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integrative thinking
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the ability to knit together information from different sources to produce a more comprehensive understanding or create new meaning.
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disciplinary specilization
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the focus on a particular portion of reality that is of interest to the discipline
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(7 weaknesses of disciplinary specialization) 1. specialization can blind us to a broader context (p.42)
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The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, - not leaving one's desk can leave unanswered issues of life.
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(7 weaknesses of disciplinary specialization) 2. specialization tends to produce tunnel vision
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many problems can be best understood by being examined from various disciplinary perspectives
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(7 weaknesses of disciplinary specialization) 3. disciplinarians sometimes fail to appreciate other disciplinary perspectives
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9/11 example - failed to pay attention to religion when fighting terrorism
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(7 weaknesses of disciplinary specialization) 4. some worthwhile topics fall in the gaps between disciplines
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some problems are neglected if they fall between disciplinary boundaries.
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(7 weaknesses of disciplinary specialization) 5. creative breakthroughs often require interdisciplinary knowledge
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needed to address complex problems
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creative breakthroughs
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often occur when different disciplinary perspectives and previously unrelated ideas are brought together
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disciplines are often unable to address complex problems comprehensively
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such as global warming p. 44
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the disciplines are products of a bygone age
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"forged in relation to particular historical and social contexts, intellectual problems and achievements, and available methodologies." p. 44
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C.P. Snow
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"The clashing points of 2 subjects, 2 disciplines, 2 cultures-of 2 galaxies, so far as that goes-ought to produce creative changes." p. 44 - creative breakthroughs
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"whole person" concept
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ancient Greece, Plato's academy in 387 BC, offered instruction in gymnastics, music, poetry, literature, mathematics, and philosophy w/ intent to promote physical, moral, and social development
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classical division of knowledge
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a hierarchy of different academic subjects with philosophy at the top of the pyramid, lasted until 19th century
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Aristotle
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divided knowledge into subjects, establishing a hierarchy of the different academic subjects with theoretical subjects of theology, mathematics, and physics on top; ethics and politics in the middle; fine arts, poetics, and engineering at the bottom.
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12th century
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the time when the university institution was developed
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university
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modern times, an institution of higher learning, evolving from medieval cathedral schools and "rested on the conviction that there was an essential and universal unity of knowledge and though Christianity, that faith was the highest order of knowledge." - doesn't refer to universal or universe, rather a total group of students p.46
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1208
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first appearance of the word "university" in a letter penned by Pope Innocent III
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discipline or disciplina
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Romans used this word to relate education to specific economic, political, and ecclesiastical ends.
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20th century
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when subfields were absorbed into the academic curriculum of Western university.
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enlightenment
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a Europe-wide intellectual movement that emphasized the progress of human knowledge through the powers of reason and provided justification for the movement known as modernism. p.46
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scientific revolution
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emphasized greater speculation (i.e. reductionism) and heightened research activity (i.e. empiricism), initially in the sciences and then in all the disciplines.
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late 17th and 18th centuries
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the production of knowledge and disciplinary specialization accelerated during this era which caused 2 movements to advance - enlightenment and scientific revolution p.46 - challenged the idea of unity of knowledge p. 47
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Giambattista Vico
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in the early 1700s, wanted new approach for learning - argued that "human sciences" like history, philosophy, and law can achieve knowledge and understanding from within and in fact, were superior to the natural sciences which can only describe the external phenomena in nature.
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writing, grading, and examination
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established betwen 1750 & 1800, disciplines were consolidated to embrace 3 new techniques, introduced in 3 new teaching settings: the seminar, the laboratory, and the classroom p. 47
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emergence of interdisciplinary studies
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a response to 2 broad developments in the US in 20th century - 1) general education movement of early 20th cent 2) cultural revolution of 1960s
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general education movement
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post-WWI, response to lack of national unity and eroding cohesiveness of general ed. Intended to solves these issues by reemphasizing the arts and values associated with classical humanism that emphasized wholeness of knowledge and of human nature.
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4 ways arts and values are "general"
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1. they apply to all subject areas. 2. they embrace all basic skills. 3. they affect the formation of the whole person. 4. they provide guidance for all humans.
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traditional interdisciplinarity
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focused on the classical and secular ideals of culture and liberal education
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liberal humanism
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p. 49 - worked with general education movement
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pragmatic interdisciplinarity
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focused on historically situated problems of society.
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traditonal and pragmatic common ground
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"the place where all parts would add up to a cohesive whole"
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general education in a free society
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1945 Harvard report - called for a new gen ed curriculum based on the sciences and writing of Euro-humanist tradition. p.49
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Michael Foucalt
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criticism of the disciplines - argued that disciplines aren't just a way to produce knowledge, they are a sophisticated mechanism to be the quintessential practice that epitomizes both the modern power of knowledge and the modern practice of meticulous disciplinary control. (influenced by Friedrich Mietzche)
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second criticism of the disciplines
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focused on deepening isolation of the disciplines from each other
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tribes
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anthopological metaphor by Tony Becher p. 50
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AIS
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Association for Integrative Studies - to study interdisciplinary methodology, theory, curricula, and administration.
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Issues in Integrative Studies
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launched in 182, peer-reviewed journal by AIS
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four assumptions of interdisciplinarity
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1. the reality beyond the academy requires and interdisciplinary approach to research and education. 2. the disciplines are foundation to the interdisciplinarity. 3. the disciplines by themselves are inadequate to address complex problems. 4. disciplinary perspectives are partial and biased.
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antidisciplinary
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view shared by some interdisciplinarians, preferring a more "open" understanding of "knowledge" and "evidence" that would include "lived experience" testimonials, oral traditions, and interpretation of those traditions by elders.
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disciplinary inadequacy
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the view that the disciplines by themselves are inadequate to address complex problems. p. 53
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paradigm shift
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a factor explaining disciplinary inadequacy - the world is changing in terms of globalization of culture, technology, economy, and demography.
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cognitive decentering p. 54, 55
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the intellectual capacity to consider a variety of other perspectives and thus perceive reality more accurately, process information more systematically, and solve problems more efficiently. decenturing denotes the ability to shift deliberately among alternative perspectives and to bring each to bear upon a complex proble,.
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5 cognitive or mental abilities fostered by interdisciplinary learning
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p. 56-58
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perspective taking
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or the use of multiple perspectives involves viewing a problem, a topic, or an artifact from alternative viewpoints
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common ground
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created between conflicting disciplines to produce an interdisciplinary product
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cognitive abilities fostered by interdisciplinarity
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p. 56, 57
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cognitive advancement
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the ability to explain a phenomenon, solve a problem, create a product or raise a new question in ways that would have been unlikely through single disciplinary means, to an end, not an end itself, a result or product of integration
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what interdisiplinary learning offers
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a way to harvest the depth of disciplinary knowledge while also moving dialectically across the disciplines, noting areas of commonality, areas of difference, and providing a holistic framework for further analysis.
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traits/skills
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p. 58-63
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receptivity to other disciplines
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being open to information from any and all relevant disciplinary perspectives - means being willing and eager to learn about divergent fields of knowledge, gaining both an intuitive and intellectual grasp of them.
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disciplinary adequacy
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comprehending how that discipline characteristically looks at the world in terms of its perspective, phenomena, epistemology, assumptions, concepts, theories, and methods
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communicative competence
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the ability to comprehend and translate terminology that is discipline-specific
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abstract thinking
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higher-order cognitive ability that enables one to understand and express and interdisciplinary understanding or meaning of a problem symbolically in terms of metaphor, or to compare a hard-to-understand and complex phenomenon to a symbol that is simple, familiar, and easy to understand. p. 62
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dialectical thinking
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the ability to view issues from multiple perspectives and to arrive at the most economical and reasonable reconciliation of seemingly contradictory information and positions
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creativity
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process that involves rethinking underlying premises, assumptions, or values, not just tracing out the implications of agreed-upon premises, assumptions, or values - involves iterative (repetitive) and heuristic (experimental) activity.
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holistic thinking
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thinking about the problem as part of a complete system. "seeing things whole" p.63
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seven problematic characteristics of the disciplines
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interdisciplinary critique of the disciplines
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STEPS
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decision points
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interdisciplinary research
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decision-making process that is heuristic, iterative, and reflexive
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decision-making
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the cognitive ability to choose after considering alternatives. It is complicated by the prevalence of complex problems in our personal lives, business, society, and international realm
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interdisciplinary research process
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IRP - a practical and demonstrated way to make decisions about how to approach problems, decide which ones are appropriate for interdisciplinary inquiry, and construct comprehensive understandings of them.
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process
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following a procedure or strategy, in this case, one that involves integration - also entails moment-to-moment interactions as well as interactions over the course of the project.
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heuristic
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an aid to understanding or discovery or learning - method places the student in the role of the discoverer of knowledge. Students learns to solve problems individually or in groups rather than being told about the solution.
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IRP is heuristic because
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it provides a way to understand a problem that otherwise would be impossible using a disciplinary or multidisciplinary approach.
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throughout the research process, the researcher should expect to ______ earlier work
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revisit
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iterative
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procedurally repetitive - IRP STEPS involve repetition of a sequence of operations yielding results successively closer to the desired outcome.
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reflexive
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being self-conscious or self-aware of disciplinary or personal bias that may infuence one's work and possibly skew the evaluation of insights and thus the end product.
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STEP
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term used to clarify the point of decision or operation that one would normally take in almost any interdisciplinary research project and to differentiate a particular decision or operation from others.
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rote learning
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learning that occurs when the learner memorizes new information without relating it to prior knowledge or understanding the theory underlying it and involves no attempt to integrate new knowledge with existing concepts, experience, or objects
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How is IRP an overaching research process
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it draws on disciplinary methods that are appropriate to investigating the problem.
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IRP encourages researchers to
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cast their gaze across all relevant theories, methods, phenomena, and insights.
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IRP in simplified form
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problem-insights-integration-understanding
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IRP is like a map because
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it provides a clear route on how to journey from a familiar place (the problem) to one that is foreign (the understanding)
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STEPS often
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overlap
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nonlinear thinking
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approach a problem creatively, thinking about it outside the box without being influenced by solutions attempted in the past and viewing it from different perspectives.
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feedback loop
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revisiting problem-insights-integration-understanding
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feedback
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corrective information about a decision, an operation, an event, or a problem that compels the researcher to revisit an earlier phase of the project.
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nonlinearity
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along the way of research process, researcher should reflect on and may need to revisit earlier work. questions on p. 75
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STEP 1
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define the problem or state the research question
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STEP 1 decisions
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1) select problem 2) define scope 3) avoid 3 tendencies that run counter to IRP 4) follow 3 guidelines for stating problem/pose question
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three cautions concerning STEPS
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1. STEPS do not overlap. 2. numbering STEPS implies unidirectional sequence 3. temptation to avoid difficult STEPS and leap ahead
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scope
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the parameters of what is included and excluded from consideration - how much of this problem will be investigated? what are the limits?
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interdisciplinary question
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open-ended and too difficult to answer with one discipline
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two criteria for developing a good interdisciplinary question
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1. it must be open-ended and too complex - 2. it must be researchable in an interdisciplinary sense - authors from at least two disciplines have written on the topic before.
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three tendencies to avoid which run counter to IRP
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disciplinary bias, disciplinary jargon, personal bias.
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disciplinary bias
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using words or phrases that connect the problem to the particular discipline
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disciplinary jargon
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using technical terms and concepts that are not generally understood outside the discipline
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personal bias
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personal point of view, opinion
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three guidelines to follow
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1. problem should be stated clearly and concisely, 2. problem should be sufficiently narrow to be manageable within the specified limits of the essay, 3. the problem should appear in a context that explains why it is important or why the reader should care.
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William Dietrich (1995)
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Northwest Passage: The Great Columbia River - one mistake of the past has been tendency to focus narrowly on development of some part of a river without considering the consequences for the whole.
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Joe Smolinski (2005)
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Freshwater Scarcity in Texas
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Charles C. Fischer (1988)
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On the need for integrating occupational sex discrimination theory on the basis of the casual variables.
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Janet B. Delph (2005)
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An Integrative Approach to the elimination of the perfect crime - unsolved homicides
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Mieke Bal (1999)
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Introduction - serves 2 purposes -1. decipher complex meaning of the object she is subjecting to interdisciplinary scrutiny 2. introduce the reader to the interdisciplinary process of cultural analysis and illustrate its ability to reveal new meaning in an object or text
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STEP 2
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Justify Using an Interdisciplinary approach
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four criteria used to justify use of interdisciplinary approach
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1) problem is complex 2) important insights or theories of the problem are offered by 2 or more disciplines 3) no single discipline has been able to address the problem comprehensively or resolve it. 4) the problem is an unresolved societal need or issue
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system
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any group of interacting components or agents around which there is a clearly defined boundary between it and the rest of the world, but also clearly definable inputs from the world and outputs to the world that cross the boundary.
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a problem/question is complex when
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its composed of multiple components or agents connected through nonlinear as well as linear relationships.
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complexity
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the problem has multiple components studied by different disciplines
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complexity requires
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requires interdisciplinarity
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interdisciplinarity is necessary for
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for the study of complexity
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examples of complex questions
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what is consciousness? what is freedom? what is family? what does it mean to be human? why does hunger persist?
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STEP 3
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mapping the problem so as to identify relevant disciplines
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STEP 4
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conducting a full-scale literature search
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border disciplinarity
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researchers should look for instances of this - exists when at least 2 disciplines focusing on the same problem create overlapping area between them
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undergraduates should work on
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problems that have been studied by more than one discipline
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problem ripe for interdisciplinary inquiry if
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(a) no 1 discipline has been able to explain it comprehensively or resolve it or (b) each discipline offers a biased understanding of it
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problem-based research
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focuses on unresolved societal needs and practical problem solving. emphasizes usefulness, efficiency, and practical results
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what distinguishes problem-based research from other applied research?
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its holistic focus that requires more than one discipline.
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colleges, schools, or faculties
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clusters of related disciplines form larger units within a university
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disciplines
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academic communities that exhibit a disciplinary perspective which involves preferences regarding phenomena to study and theories and methods to use, shared, terminology called concepts and epistemological and ethical and ideological outlooks. may involved PhD programs, departmental hiring, and disciplinary journals.
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disciplinarity
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refers to the system of knowledge specialties called disciplines. p. 94
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disciplinary categories
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departments are organized into these to form divisions or colleges or schools. i.e. natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, fine arts, communications, business, law, education, etc.
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disciplinary perspective
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each discipline's unique view of reality in a general sense p. 96 - lens when it filters out certain phenomena so that it can focus exclusively on phenomena that interest it.
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Raymond C. Miller (1982)
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perspectives should be the primary the primary means of distinguishing one discipline from another
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misconceptions about disciplinary perspective
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1. narrow focus, seeing perspective as referring only to a discipline's overall view of reality. 2. other terms like purview can easily be substituted for it. 3. similar to insight 4. research process involves integrating perspectives from disciplines relevant to the problem
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purview
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limit or scope authority
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Must first be indentified
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relevant disciplines - between students identify insights and theories concerning a problem
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the disciplines are heterogenous families and not
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monolithic structures
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cognitive discord
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changing character of the disciplines, disagreement among a discipline's practitioners over the defining elements of the discipline. p. 99
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art history/sociology in their fragmented states
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general perspective on reality - idealization
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intellectual center of gravity
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counterbalancing centripetal forces to a large degree and enables each discipline to maintain its identity and have a distinctive overall perspective.
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cognitive fluidity
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phenomenon of boundary crossing and borrowing from other disciplines p. 100
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concept of perspective
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3rd characteristic of contemporary disciplines - disciplinarians in the social sciences and the humanities are more apt to use the term perspective to reference schools of thought such as modernism and post modernism that inform their disciplines rather than to associate the term with the disciplines themselves. p. 100
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defining elements of a discipline's perspective
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include the phenomena it studies and the kinds of data it collects, its epistemology or rules about what constitutes evidence or "proof," the assumptions it makes about the natural and human world, its basic concepts or vocabulary, its theories about the causes and behaviors of certain phenomena and its methods.
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cognitive map
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the defining elements of a discipline's perspective
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disciplinary perspective
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a discipline's view of reality in a general sense which embrace and in turn reflects the ensemble of its defining elements that include phenomena, epistemology, assumptions, concepts, theory and methods
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interdisciplinary emphasis on perspective taking is supported by
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research from cognitive psychology and the emerging cognitive science of interdisciplinary collaboration.
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two circumstances disciplinary perspectives are useful
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(1) near the beginning of the research process where the focus is on identifying disciplines that are potentially interested in the problem (2) in performing STEPs 5 & 6
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STEP 5
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developing adequacy in relevant disciplines
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STEP 6
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analyzing the problem
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elements
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referring to the constituent parts of a discipline that provide its essential and formative character
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phenomena
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enduring aspects of human existence that are of interest to scholars and are susceptible to scholarly description and explanation.
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Szostak on phenomena
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"economic and political institutions evolve and assume different forms in every society, but the classification of possible types of instituions need not change to capture this diversity"
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disciplines and phenomena
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p. 106 illustrative phenomena
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perspectival approach
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relying on each discipline's unique perspective on reality - until recently this was the only approach available to interdisciplinarians because no system of classifying all human phenomena existed
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Szostak pioneered
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classification approach, classification of phenomena about human world, moves left to right from most general to most specific, all phenomena can be linked easily to particular disciplines p. 107
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epistemology
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branch of philosophy that studies how one knows what is true and how one validates truth, dealing w/ nature, validity, and limits of inquiry. theory of knowledge
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epistemological position
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reflects one's view of what can be known about the world and how it can be known. also in the status the researcher give to the findings
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each discipline's epistemology
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is its way of knowing that part of reality that it considers within its research domain
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epistemological attitutides
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reflect metaphysical attitudes - scientists who believe they can understand the universe must believe it behaves in an orderly fashion
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epistemic norms of a discipline
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agreements about how researchers should select their evidence or data, evaluate experiments, and judge their theories
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a researcher's epistemological position
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what is studied and how it is studied
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positivists
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concerned with establishing casual relationships between social phenomena through direct observation, attempting to develop explanatory, and even predictive, models.
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positivist researchers
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believe that (a) the world exists independently of our knowledge of it (b) social phenomena exist independently of our interpretation of them and (c) objective analysis is possible - polar opposite if interpretivist position
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interpretivists
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believe that (a) the world is socially constructed (b) social phenomena do not exist independently of our interpretation of them and (c) objective analysis is IMPOSSIBLE
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epistemological pluralism
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the diverse approaches that the disciplines use to know and describe reality, exists across the disciplines, but especially in social sciences and even more so in humanities
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problematic epistemology association
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deep divide between the modernist and newer critical approaches to knowledge formation
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modernist approaches
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belief in objective, empirically based, rationally anlyzed truh that is knowable
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Lisa Lattuca (2001)
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professors committed to traditional modernist approaches chose theories and methods from different disciplines that were epistemologically consistent with their own way of thinking.
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epistemological postivism
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"law and order" allied with modernists who point to any flexibility in matters epistemological as a guise for relativism or at least a mask for being weak or lacking conviction in expressing one's views p. 113
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epistemological interpretivists
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view epistemology as "totally arbitrary, being nothing more than a political power game to legitimize one's favored views"
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postmodernist approaches
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typically operate under the assumption that there is no such thing as objective truth and are skeptical of "metanarratives."
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Jean-Francois Lyotard (1984)
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The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge - defines metanarrative
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metanarrative
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comprehensive explanation or totalizing truth embedded in a culture that is created and reinforced by power structures and is therefore not to be trusted.
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empiricism
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holds all knowledge is derived from our perceptions (transmitted by 5 senses), experience, and observation, assures us that observation and experimentation make scientific explanations credible, and the predictive power of its theories is ever-increasing
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Alex Rosenberg (2000) empiricism
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ruling ideology of science
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epistemologies of disciplines
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p. 114-116
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postmodernism
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critical approach offering a way to understand society by questioning modernism's notion of objective knowledge - more so in social sciences and humanities
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interpretivist approaches
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postmodernism, feminism, and critical theory p. 118
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epistemological self-reflexivity
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good interdisciplinary work requires this, awareness of advantages and disadvantages of different epistemological approaches
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limitations of each epistemology
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p. 119 modernism, postmodernism
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assumption
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something taken for granted, a supposition, principles that underlie the discipline as a whole and its overall perspective on reality
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types of assumptions
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basic assumptions - made by scientists across disciplinary clusters hallmark assumption - made by scientists working in a particular cluster of disciplines
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six basic assumptions
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1. nature is orderly 2. we can know nature 3. all natural phenomena have natural causes 4. nothing is self-evident 5. knowledge is based on experience 6. knowledge is superior to ignorance
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particular combination of assumptions
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unique to each discipline, but disciplines can share assumptions
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types of hallmark assumptions
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1. scientists can transcend their cultural experience and make definitive measurements of phenomena 2. there is no supernatural or other priori properties of nature that cannot potentially be measured. p. 121
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new humanities
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interrogates the dominant structure of knowledge and education with the aim of transforming them
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theory
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generalized scholarly explanation about some aspect of the natural or human world, how it works, and why specific facts are related, that is supported by data and research
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types of theory
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scientific and philosophical
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scientific theory
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(about the world)
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philosophical theory
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(epistemological, ethical, etc.)
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importance of theory in interdisciplinary work (3 reasons)
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1. must have the vocabulary and theory of the field because each discipline requires a different mindset 2. theory dominates the scholarly discourse within the disciplines and often drives the questions asked, the phenomena investigated, and the insights produced 3.provide many of the disciplinary insights into a particular problem and it is there insights students need to integrate in order to produce and interdisciplinary understanding of the problem
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method
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the final defining element of a discipline and its perspective - concerns how one conducts research, analyzes data or evidence, tests theories, and creates new knowledge, ways to obtain evidence of how some aspect of the natural or human world functions
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quantitative approach
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evidence can be expressed numerically over a specified time frame
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qualitative approach
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evidence that cannot easily be quantified, such as cultural mannerisms and personal impressions of a musical composition.
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quantitative and qualitative becoming blurred
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theories in natural science that focus on nonintentional agents - germ theory of disease or cell theory
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interpretivists often quantify
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by using words such as most rather than percentages
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methods linked to epistemologies
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p. 129
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scientific method
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used by all natural sciences, has four steps 1. observation and description of phenomena and processes 2. formulation of a hypothesis to explain the phenomena, 3. use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, 4. execution of properly performed experiments to test those hypotheses or predictions
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reductionism
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the strategy of dividing a phenomenon into its constituent parts and studying them separately in the expectation that knowledge produced by narrow specialties can be readily combined into the understanding of the phenomenon as a whole
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potentially relevant discipline
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a discipline whose research domain includes at least one phenomenon
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concept or principle map
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way to organize information about a problem because it shows meaningful relationships between the parts of the problem.
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research map
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a visual of the problem or question that includes the purpose of the research, what disciplines are potentially relevant, the perspectives of each discipline on the problem, the assumptions of each discipline, and nondisciplinary sources or interpretations
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research map key components
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1. states the purpose of research. 2. identified what disciplines are potentially relevant. 3. states perspective of each discipline on the problem. 4. identifies the assumptions of each discipline. 5. identifies nondisciplinary sources or interpretations.
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theory map
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describes theory's supporting evidence, importance, and similarity or competition to other theories
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systems thinking
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method for visualizing interrelationships within a complex problem or system - breaks down complex problems into their constituent parts, identifies which parts different disciplines address, evaluates the relative importance of different casual linkages and recognizes that a system of linkages is much more than the sum of its parts
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system map
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purpose is to show all the parts of the system (complex problem) and illustrate the casual relationships among them. each part of the complex system generally studied by a different discipline.
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scaffolding strategy
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used by systems thinking, helps structure complex problems to reduce the cognitive load for students while also making disciplinary and interdisciplinary strategies explicit p. 157
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systems thinking methodology
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p. 157 - 1. define problem 2. list factors 3. draw reference mode 4. build systems maps 5. ID leverage points 6. test and improve theory
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most relevant disciplines
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often 3-4 disciplines which are 1. most directly connected to the problem, 2. have generated the most important research on it, and, 3. have advanced the most compelling theories to explain it. - also provide information about the problem that is essential to developing a comprehensive understanding of it. p. 159
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three questions to ask to distinguish between potentially to most relevant disciplines
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p. 159
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Three ways to evaluate the importance of insights
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1. seeing how often the insight is cited by other writers 2. consulting disciplinary experts 3. noting the date of publication
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problems of human cloning
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p. 163 heightens student awareness
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students should
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think through the problem and use both the perspectival and classification-of-phenomena approaches to identify disciplines potentially relevant to the problem
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perspective refers to
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a discipline's unique view of reality in a general sense
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