Beware of Pidgin Minds: Pitfalls and Promises of Interdisciplinarity in Undergraduate Education

Abstract

This paper discusses interdisciplinarity in undergraduate education. Having been involved with the design and administration of a major interdisciplinary program, the authors of this paper wish to describe the drawbacks inherent in attempting to catalyze integration simply by exposing undergraduate students to a disciplinary smorgasbord and by encouraging synthesis through application. As an alternative to this approach ”which in their view may lead to the development of "pidgin minds"" they promise a model of pedagogic practice called "knowledge integration training" and involving the reflexive analysis of disciplinary perspectives in the context of team-taught courses.