Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies Volume 27 (2009)

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    A Critical Review of Harvard's Project Zero
    (Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, 2009) Stuart Henry
    Project Zero, a research center at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, is impressive and far-reaching in its scope. It is a multifaceted research project that is commonly referred to as being interdisciplinary or as doing interdisciplinary work, and among other things performs research on the nature of interdisciplinary teaching and research. This paper critically reviews a segment of the Project's work and considers it in light of a definition of "interdisciplinarity" (Klein & Newell, 1997) around which a consensus is developing. The review provides a brief history of Project Zero, then focuses on the GoodWork¨ Project with further emphasis on the GoodWork¨ Interdisciplinary Studies Project. Both teaching and research reports are reviewed, noting those that are traditionally published and/or offer literature reviews. The role of in-house and popular press publication versus peer-reviewed publication is considered. This review concludes that Project Zero does interdisciplinary-related work, rather than interdisciplinary work. It is suggested that Project Zero could draw more heavily on the wider literature in its research reports as well as pursue an explicitly integrative process in its research.
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    Interdisciplinarity and the History of Western Epistemology
    (Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, 2009) Stuart Henry
    The development of interdisciplinary theory is problematic in several ways, not least the ambiguity inherent in the diverse conceptualizations and applications of the term. However, the focus in interdisciplinary scholarship on disciplinary negotiation, complexity, and integration allows for a more coherent approach to such developments. At its core, interdisciplinarity constitutes a unique approach to knowledge and therefore is involved in questions of epistemology. The idea of interdisciplinarity arises from and responds to the key epistemological strategies in the Western philosophical canon. These strategies, including logical determinism, duality and absolute truth, are examined in detail through a survey of primary works. This survey will help situate interdisciplinarity in the History of Ideas and begin to lay the foundation for a philosophically grounded theory of interdisciplinarity.
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    Knowers and Phenomena: Two Different Approaches to Interdisciplinarity and Interprofessionalism
    (Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, 2009) Stuart Henry
    This paper describes two influential but quite different perspectives on disciplinary knowledge and interdisciplinary integration. One conceives of these issues in terms of irreducible differences in the world, among the varying sorts of phenomena studied. The other perspective explains them primarily in terms of sociocultural dynamics within and among the "knowers" (i.e., disciplinary groups) doing the studying. Both perspectives can be productively understood through the lens of complexity science. Unfortunately, interdisciplinary theorists tend to adopt only one of these perspectives and neglect the other. There is thus a need for an integration of perspectives, in order that a more robust theory of interdisciplinarity might emerge. The final section the paper speculates on what such an integrative approach might look like, drawing upon pragmatism, enactivism and several other strands of non-representationist epistemological thinking.
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    Resisting Curriculum Integration: Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?
    (Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, 2009) Stuart Henry
    Curriculum integration has a long history. In this paper I catalog several arguments for resistance against integration and present the historical roots of support for those arguments offered by critics of curriculum integration. First, I review some linguistic and usage limitations of the term. Second, I examine several practical and institutional difficulties related to implementing integrated curriculum. Third, I explore some interconnected psychological and sociological dimensions of resistance to curriculum integration. Finally, I consider several epistemological dimensions of resistance to integration, some of which underlie the sociological and psychological aspects. While recognizing that some resistance to integration will never be answered, I argue that in order to answer some of the questions raised by this analysis we need more empirical research into integrated curriculum and integrative teaching.
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    Rethinking Integration in Interdisciplinary Studies
    (Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, 2009) Stuart Henry
    The Klein and Newell definition of interdisciplinarity centers on integration when a problem is beyond the competency of a single discipline. Disciplines can be wildly flourishing jungles fragmented by insular sub-fields and competing research programs. When issues go beyond the sub-fields, disciplines can be faced with similar problems of integration as happens in interdisciplinarity. Seeking integration is essential to interdisciplinary efforts. Interdisciplinary attempts to integrate disciplinary ideas and methods can result in full, partial, incomplete, and multiple integrations. Determining if single integrations are reliable and confronting multiple integrations over the same issue raise epistemological questions for interdisciplinarity that have not yet been fully addressed. Interdisciplinary studies needs to understand the disciplinary and interdisciplinary conditions that both promote and retard integration.
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    The Problem with Problem Solving
    (Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, 2009) Stuart Henry
    Little has been written about the ontological nature of problems and problem solving in interdisciplinary studies, and yet problem solving is one of the central features of interdisciplinary theory and practice. This essay begins a discussion of how we might think about problems and how to solve them. Consideration is given to the objective, subjective, and constructed nature of problems, to Foucault's critique of problematization, Certeau's notion of everyday practices, and Deleuze's approach to problems, which involves the event. The problem with problem solving is its tendency not to wonder about what problem solving is, or what it might become if we just think about it.