The natural complexity of the world around us, coupled with the need to solve large-scale societal problems, has driven the demand for an interdisciplinary approach to contemporary science education. The increased desire for interdisciplinary outcomes and the increased expectation from students for such an education is changing the way we approach teaching Science. Interdisciplinary programs like Science One, offered at the University of British Columbia, explore teaching in this changing landscape. Science One is a team-taught program encompassing first-year biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics. The program consists of 8 faculty, 2 from each discipline, that provides a dynamic educational experience that presents topics in an interdisciplinary format. One of the goals of any interdisciplinary education is to break down the pre-existing silos of knowledge that students may possess, but faculty who teach in such programs must also break out of their preconceived notions of disciplinarity to embrace this teaching approach. While there is an increasing body of work focussing on best practices for generating meaningful and engaging student learning opportunities in this interdisciplinary context, and the many student benefits for such an approach, less attention has been paid to the experiences of faculty that participate in this educational environment. To address this, semi-structured one-on-one interviews with current and past faculty in the Science One program were undertaken. The interviews were designed to probe several areas of inquiry, including their motivation for joining the program, the nature of interdisciplinary teaching collaborations, and how their perception of their discipline, and the other disciplines, changed as a result of program participation. The results of this study have provided us with insight into how effective interdisciplinary teaching collaborations are established and maintained, and how their disciplinary views can evolve as a result of participating in the program. This information is used to inform our program and our teaching, and build more substantive interdisciplinary collaborations. Best practices developed as a result of these interviews will be discussed, with a particular focus on teaching chemistry in this context.

Helping faculty see the bigger picture: Faculty perceptions and experiences from team-teaching in an interdisciplinary first-year science program

ACS Spring 2022

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