ABSTRACT
As noted in the introductory chapter, numerous well-known and respected discipline-based professional organizations in the U.S. have published position statements and standards documents advocating for an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning at the K-16 level (Klein, 1997; National Council for the Social Studies [NCSS], 1994; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], 1989, 2000; National Council of Teachers of English [NCTE], 1996; National Research Council [NRC], 1986, 1989; National Science Foundation [NSF], 1996; National Science Teachers Association [NSTA], 2003; Rutherford & Ahlgren, 1990). Echoed in these papers is the observation that life does not recognize the discrete categories of knowledge we call disciplines and accordingly, in order to prepare students to tackle the significant social problems we face today, problems which cannot be solved by a single disciplinary approach, students must begin to develop interdisciplinary perspectives. As a result of these calls for change, teachers across all grade levels and specialties have been called upon to be pedagogically bold and cross the arguably artificial boundaries of traditional academic disciplines to collaborate and engage students in solving real-world problems so that everyone may work toward a new, more comprehensive point of view than can be achieved by the perspective of any one field (DeZure, 1999).
