A Comparative Study for Advancing Understanding of Interdisciplinary Learning in STEM

Abstract

Preparing students to make informed and ethical decisions on complex problems is a primary aim of higher education (AAC&U, 2007). Socioscientific issues (SSI) are complex learning contexts incorporating social interaction, scientific and sociomoral reasoning, self‐directed learning, and reflection. SSI provides learning theory and practice frameworks for enhancing learning in STEM. We investigated whether students in an interdisciplinary biology major (IDL), which engaged students in a SSI‐directed core curriculum, would reason differently with complex problems than students in a traditional biology major (BIO). Additionally, we questioned how their perceptions of their college experiences would differ. Assessments included open‐ended questionnaires administered to 95 participants of both majors and interviews with a subset of 16 participants. We found that while IDL and BIO groups made similar decisions on complex problems, the IDL group showed more sophisticated reasoning, suggesting that the IDL learning environment was more effective for enhancing decision‐making skills. IDL students’ citation in questionnaires and interviews of case studies from their coursework suggests that the IDL environment provided a repertoire of examples from which to reason with new problems. We will discuss the broader implications of these and other findings for the teaching of science in higher education.