Interdisciplinary project

Initial situation

The teacher wishes to transmit to the students the notion of interdisciplinarity by having them experiment directly. To do so, he gives his students (coming from very different disciplines) the opportunity to create, in groups, a creative and innovative interdisciplinary project on the theme of children’s rights.

Project implementation

During the first sessions, the teacher begins by providing the students with the theoretical basis of interdisciplinarity (research method, systemic approach, problem solving) as well as the transversal skills necessary in an interdisciplinary context.

The students will then be divided into groups of 5 to 7. The constitution of groups will allow students to define and value their own skills. The objective is to encourage the creation of groups with varied skills to create a good dynamic and form a “group intelligence” (collective intelligence).

Each group will choose a more or less specific theme for their interdisciplinary project related to children’s rights (the integration of migrant children; children’s rights in the context of climate change, etc.). The students will not actually carry out the chosen project; the objective of the course is not operational, but primarily reflective. The aim is to make them think about all the possible ways of developing, orienting and carrying out a project after having laid the theoretical foundations and an interdisciplinary framework.

The evaluation of the course is composed of a 1ère group grade through an oral presentation of the project and the production of a support. The focus here is on the group dynamics and its interdisciplinary functioning. An individual 2e grade is based on the development of reading sheets on shared texts dealing with interdisciplinary collaboration. In addition, an individual formative assessment consists of writing a self-reflective report on one’s experience of interdisciplinarity. The grades for the group work and the individual work each count for half of the overall grade.

Thoughts and advice

The teacher advises to focus on the students and their skills (Who are they? Why are they there? Where do they come from? What are their strengths?) Each year, the content of the course will be adapted according to the disciplinary background of the students present while relying on the state of the literature concerning interdisciplinarity.

èreIt is important that the evaluation be in line with what is asked of the students during the course and that it be made clear from the first session.

Student feedback

“The group work is what allowed me to put all my observations and reflections into practice, and was an ideal learning opportunity for me. I got a very rewarding experience out of it that will help me in my further studies, or even my future job.” “Allow us to approach the course topic in a progressive way by experiencing interdisciplinarity ourselves through group work.” “The course is very interesting and allows us to have a different vision than the usual teaching. It allows for more complex and different thinking compared to the teaching I may have received before.” “Doing work with others is very rewarding, both on a teaching level, but also on a personal level (learning to cooperate, collaborate, etc.).” “Finally, a course that takes multiple disciplines into account to make it something constructive.”