Introduction to Integrative Studies is an entry level textbook for students enrolled in an interdisciplinary degree program that may have an emphasis on integrative learning. Written in an easy to read conversational tone, the text provides an overview of the basic concepts related to interdisciplinary and integrative studies.
This is a textbook on how to perform interdisciplinary research designed for senior undergraduates or graduate students. It offers a comprehensive and systematic presentation of the interdisciplinary process and the theory that informs it. The authors illustrate each step of the decision-making process by drawing on student and professional work from the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and applied fields. The third edition is completely revised, with the addition of Szostak as co-author. The revisions include expanded discussions of transdisciplinarity, integrative studies, and team science.
This textbook is designed to introduce first or second year undergraduates to the nature and importance of interdisciplinary analysis, and to the cognitive process that interdisciplinarians use to approach complex problems. The second edition has been fully revised to reflect developments in the literature as well as the detailed comments of six instructors. In chapter 1, for example, there is more information on career prospects for interdisciplinary students, the value of the skills associated with interdisciplinary education, and the evaluation of interdisciplinary programs.
Becoming Interdisciplinary: An Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies, 3rd Edition, introduces students to interdisciplinary studies and is useful for students seeking a better understanding both of interdisciplinary studies and of themselves. Special features of the revised and expanded Third Edition of Becoming Interdisciplinary include all of the following: definitions of key terms by leading scholars of interdisciplinary studies; a background history of how interdisciplinary studies programs emerged; a discussion of leading advantages and disadvantages of interdisciplinary studies; and a brief overview of leading and emergent currents of transdisciplinarity. Becoming Interdisciplinary Studies additionally offers an innovative communication toolkit aimed to help students articulate their interdisciplinary projects and degrees in oral presentations, written personal narratives, and electronic portfolios. Theoretically informed, Becoming Interdisciplinary is primarily written for undergraduates in an extremely readable style. First-year graduate students interested in pursuing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research will also find it helpful.
This new textbook presents first a theoretical introduction to and philosophical underpinning of interdisciplinary research. The second part presents a how-to-guide, based upon a multi-step research process model for (under)graduate interdisciplinary research, targeting also team-work that includes (empirical) scientific and social scientific data acquisition. This book is designed to help students understand the tools required for stepping beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries in order to plan and execute their own interdisciplinary research projects.
This new textbook successfully applies the model of the interdisciplinary research process outlined by Repko in Interdisciplinary Research, (SAGE ©2008) to a wide spectrum of challenging research questions. Self-contained case studies, written by leading interdisciplinary scholars and utilizing best-practice techniques in conducting interdisciplinary research, show students how to apply the interdisciplinary research process to a variety of problems.
This collection of essays highlights the popularity of interdisciplinary undergraduate studies programs and their recent gains in the world of higher education, and then addresses the paradoxical failure of these programs to achieve a permanent position in the curricula of individual universities and colleges. This question and its attendant issues are explored in three ways: 1) an overview of how these changes are affected by the political economy, 2) case studies from actual universities and colleges, and 3) a discussion of the new ways undergraduates are educated through the use of interdisciplinary studies.
A Resource Review of the literature relating to interdisciplinary studies, including networks and new resources. (The article is reprinted here with permission of the author with kind acknowledgment of Heldref Publications.)
The study of culture in the American academy is not confined to a single field, but is a broad-based set of interests located within and across disciplines. This book investigates the relationship among three major ideas–interdisciplinarity, humanities, and culture–and traces their convergence from the colonial college to new scholarly developments in the latter half of the twentieth century. Its aim is twofold: to define the changing relationship among these three ideas and, in doing so, to extend present thinking about the concept of “American culture studies.” The book includes two sets of case studies–the first on the implications of interdisciplinarity for literary studies, art history, and music; the second on the shifting trajectories of American studies, African American studies, and women’s studies–and concludes by asking what impact new scholarly practices have had on humanities education, particularly in the undergraduate curriculum.
(Available through ACE’s new publishing partner, Rowman & Littlefield, by contacting customer service, 800-462-6420 or [email protected].)
Essays on the special challenges and opportunities of innovative teaching practices in the context of interdisciplinary courses. Each chapter is on a specific teaching innovation, written by one of its leading proponents. Innovations include team teaching, writing across the curriculum, learning communities, computer-assisted instruction, performance, study abroad and much more.
( Out of print; AIS has a few copies still available)
An anthology of key articles and chapters drawn from the professional literature on interdisciplinary studies. Sections focus on the overall nature and practice of IDS, philosophical analyses, administration, the relationship of IDS and the disciplines, IDS in each area (social sciences, humanities and fine arts, and natural sciences) and in specific interdisciplinary fields. Includes a synthesizing essay that sets out a research agenda on interdisciplinarity.
A compendium of a wide assortment of interdisciplinary programs in all types of colleges and universities. The directory identifies programs that are fully, explicitly, and intentionally interdisciplinary; and that are acknowledged as interdisciplinary and continuing by their own institution.
Now-classic chapters on interdisciplinary resources, course development, administration, assessment, and networking, written by AIS past presidents. Inspired by an AIS/SVHE task force report on interdisciplinary studies to the Association of American Colleges (now AAC&U) for their study of “Liberal Education and the Arts and Sciences Major.” Unfortunately out of print.
A milestone in books in interdisciplinarity. This encyclopedic overview of the interdisciplinary landscape focuses on the nature of interdisciplinarity, its relationship to disciplines, and its practice in health care and research as well as higher education. It concludes with a 94 page bibliography.
2015: Hughes, P.C., Munoz, J.S. & Tanner, M., eds, Perspectives in Interdisciplinary and Integrative Studies. Lubbock:Texas Tech University Press. The essays and primary research studies presented in Perspectives in Interdisciplinary and Integrative Studies extend the field of integrative studies further by drawing a clear distinction between integrative and interdisciplinary studies, in which integrative studies provides for a synthesis of study and life, an application of interdisciplinarity to complex problems. This volume provides a common body of integrative knowledge, theory, methods, and program development and assessment, and reveals how scholars have applied the principles of integrative studies in their courses, degree programs, and research. As a primary or supplemental text, this volume is designed for upper-division undergraduate and graduate students, as well as a resource of contemporary integrative studies theories and practices for scholars and teachers. Students interested in interdisciplinary programs will find this text instrumental for synthesizing information across disciplines to solve real-world complex problems. University and college administrators responsible for faculty development, academic assessment, degree program development, and the promotion of an integrative campus culture will also find this a useful resource.
2010:Robert R Frodeman (ed.). Julie Thompson Klein and Carl Mitcham (associate eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity. Oxford, UK, and New York: Oxford University Press.
The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity consists of 37 chapters dealing with such topics as the history of interdisciplinarity; different forms of interdisciplinarity (cross-disciplinarity, multi-disciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, antidisciplinarity, postdisciplinarity, etc.); interdisciplinarity in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and arts; and methods and difficulties in the practice of interdisciplinarity. Because it conceives of interdisciplinarity in a broad sense, the handbook also includes chapters on teamwork, partnerships, and collaborative agreements – all of these both inside and outside the university. Interdisciplinarity is as important outside academia as within, and in fact is a primary means of bridging the university/public divide.
2010: Julie Thompson Klein. Creating Interdisciplinary Campus Cultures: A Model for Strength and Sustainability. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 224 pp. Co-sponsored by the American Association of Colleges and Universities.
With increased interest in interdisciplinarity across the academy and funding agencies, the focus of this book is of heightened importance. Creating Interdisciplinary Campus Cultures provides a systematic approach grounded in a conceptual framework and a portfolio of pragmatic strategies.
2009: Rick Szostak. The Causes of Economic Growth: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Berlin: Springer. 372 pp.
This book applies (a revised version of) the twelve-step process for interdisciplinary research outlined in Rick’s 2002 article in Issues in Integrative Studies (“How to do interdisciplinarity: Integrating the debate”) to the question, “What are the causes of economic growth?” Chapters are organized around these twelve steps. Implications are drawn for both our understanding of growth and how interdisciplinary research should proceed. This is the first explicit book-length application of a process for interdisciplinary research (the process applied is broadly similar to that in Repko, 2008).
2008: Raymond C. Miller. International Political Economy: Contrasting World Views. New York: Routledge. 274pp. (hardback) ISBN-13: 9780415384087, ISBN-10: 0415385087; (paperback) ISBN-13: 9780415384094, ISBN-10: 0415384094; (e-book) ISBN-13: 9780203927236, ISBN-10: 0203927230.
This text combines theoretical perspectives, real-world examples, and comparative policy analysis to give readers an in-depth understanding of the core perspectives in International Political Economy, which will allow them to critically evaluate and independently analyze major political and economic events.
2004: Rick Szostak. Classifying Science: Phenomena, Data, Theory, Method, Practice. Dordrecht: Springer. 301pp.
The book argues that we can define scholarship in terms of the phenomena we study, data we use, types of theory we apply, methods we use, and practices we pursue (biases and errors we strive to avoid). The various classifications allow the interdisciplinarian to survey potentially exhaustive lists of phenomena, data, theory types, and methods (while avoiding a long list of potential errors). The chapter on methods also identifies key strengths and weaknesses of each of the dozen methods used by scholars (and shows that each method is biased toward supporting certain types of theory). The book argues throughout for a symbiotic relationship between specialized and integrative research.
2002: Julie Klein (ed.). Interdisciplinary Education in K-12 and College: A Foundation for K-16 Dialogue. New York: The College Board. 216pp. ISBN: 0-87447-679-8. ( Out of print; check Amazon.com or a university library for copies.)
Brings together K-12 and higher education luminaries to examine the continuum of interdisciplinarity in American education. The latest of four books in the College Board series on foundations, resources, and practices in interdisciplinary education.
1999: Marcia Seabury (ed.). Interdisciplinary General Education: Questioning Outside the Lines/ the University of Hartford Experience. New York: The College Board. 366pp. ISBN: 0-87447-640-2 (hardcover), 0-87447-639-9 (paperback) ( Out of print; check Amazon.com or a university library for copies.)
Addresses common concerns of faculty new to interdisciplinary course development and teaching in general education, in general terms and in the context of specific courses. It gets beyond generic issues to the practice of interdisciplinarity, confronting concerns that are emotional as well as intellectual. In the process, it presents designs for courses on a wide array of topics.
1999: Joan Fiscella & Stacey Kimmel. Interdisciplinary Education: A Guide to Resources. New York: The College Board. 343 pp. ISBN: 0-87447-635-6 (hardcover) and 0-87447-632-1 (paperback) ( Out of print; check Amazon.com or a university library for copies.)
Presents K-16 educators and researchers with tools to identify and locate print and electronic resources in interdisciplinary education. The volume is prepared by librarians and aimed at those interested in developing new curricula and innovative teaching practices.
1999: Julie Thompson Klein: Mapping Interdisciplinary Studies. Washington, D.C.: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
1997: Julie Thompson Klein & W.H. Newell. “Advancing Interdisciplinary Studies.” In Handbook of the Undergraduate Curriculum: A Comprehensive Guide to Purposes, Structures, Practices and Change, ed. J. Gaff and J. Ratcliff, pp. 393-415. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
1996: Julie Thompson Klein. Crossing Boundaries: Knowledge, Disciplinarities, and Interdisciplinarities in the series on Knowledge: Disciplinarity and Beyond. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia. 281 pp. ISBN: 0-8139-1679-8
Boundary Crossing
An extended examination of the claims that knowledge is increasingly interdisciplinary and that boundary crossing has become a defining characteristic of our age. The chapter on interdisciplinary studies focuses on urban and environmental studies, border and area studies, women’s studies and cultural studies.
1995: James R. Davis. Interdisciplinary Courses and Team Teaching: New Arrangements for Learning. ACE Series on Higher Education. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press (now an imprint of Greenwood Press). 271pp. ISBN: 0-89774-887-5
Explains the benefits and pitfalls of interdisciplinary team-taught courses and provides practical information on how to design and conduct them. It includes a listing of nearly 100 interdisciplinary, team-taught courses in general education, women’s and gender studies, professional and technical programs, and electives.
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