Researchers typically embark on interdisciplinarity after the acquisition of disciplinary expertise. This article explores the possibility of teaching interdiciplinarity to undergraduate students who have not yet mastered or are in the process of mastering a discipline or disciplines. It focuses on junior-year students in the
Drawing on Pennock’s theory of scientific virtues, we are developing an alternative curriculum for training scientists in the responsible conduct of research (RCR) that emphasizes internal values rather than externally imposed rules. This approach focuses on the virtuous characteristics of scientists that lead to responsible
This article discusses a formal evaluation of new curricular materials and activities designed to foster understanding of three key issues–expertise, risk, and sociopolitical constraints–related to values and policy in transdisciplinary environmental science. We begin by describing the three issues, along with current thinking about the
The “Values and Responsibility in Interdisciplinary Environmental Science” curriculum (http://eese.msu.edu/) is a modular resource designed to be implemented by environmental science instructors who have no ethics training for the purpose of guiding students through an analytic examination of the values and policy dimensions of their
Interdisciplinarity is crucial for addressing the complex problems society faces. We present a model for educating doctoral students for careers involving interdisciplinary, team-based research to address problem-focused questions. The educational model is theoretically based and evaluated in light of the literature, faculty perspectives, and an
Responsible conduct of research training typically includes only a subset of the issues that ought to be included in science ethics and sometimes makes ethics appear to be a set of externally imposed rules rather than something intrinsic to scientific practice. A new approach to
Background Critical interdisciplinary research skills include effective communication with diverse disciplines and cultivating collaborative relationships. Acquiring these skills during graduate education may foster future interdisciplinary research quality and productivity. Objective The project aim was to develop and evaluate an interactive Toolbox workshop approach within an interprofessional graduate level
Reflexivity is a complex phenomenon. In this chapter, we are primarily interested in reflex- ivity as a process of discovering for oneself and one’s audiences the perspectival features (e.g. background assumptions, social posi- tions, and biases) that shape one’s judgments, decisions, and behaviors. So understood,
Interdisciplinary sustainability science teamwork skills are essential for addressing the world’s most pressing and complex sustainability problems, which inherently have social, natural, and engineering science dimensions. Further, because sustainability science problems exist at global scales, interdisciplinary science teams will need to consist of international members
The emerging literature on the challenges of cross-disciplinary research emphasizes the critical importance of effective communication to project success, but mechanisms for developing such communication remain scarce. This chapter presents one approach to improving communication in cross-disciplinary research teams—the Toolbox method, a dialogue method rooted