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Big History: Inside an Interdisciplinary Studies Classroom
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Interdisciplinary Studies
Interdisciplinary studies are skills-centered programs of study that require that you draw from and integrate two or more disciplines to explain a phenomenon, solve a problem, or create a product. The result is one that could not have been achieved through just one discipline.
How should the USA prepare for a possible outbreak of Ebola? How valid a critique of religious belief is Voltaire’s poetic reflection upon the Lisbon earthquake? What does the development of mathematical principles reveal about the societies and cultures that produced them?
In order to respond to these questions properly, you need to integrate disciplines, combining the insights, skills, and approaches of different subjects in order to make progress. The interdisciplinary studies department is founded on the principle that a complete high school education should require students to engage with this kind of demanding and high level study, both because of its intrinsic educational value, and because of the growing need in the world at large for graduates who have skill and confidence with such study.
IDS News
List of 5 news stories.
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Expanding Impact of Rivers Bioethics Program
Read MoreRecent graduates Aliza Bloostein ’17 and Michelle Ryder ’17 were pleased to learn that the impact of their bioethics research papers now extends far beyond the Rivers campus. Harvard Medical School’s bioethics writer Paul McLean, with thousands of followers in the medical community, recently tweeted links to their papers with the question “What can high school students teach #bioethics about #gene editing and #patient noncompliance?” Have a look at these impressive papers on the medicalethicsandme.org website. -
Speakers Share Personal and Professional Insights in Classes
Often we associate experiential learning opportunities with those that literally take students out of the classroom into the real world, but just as effective are those occasions when professionals and others take the time to share their expertise and experiences with Rivers students. Three different speakers recently delved into issues surrounding death, dying, and war in Upper School elective classes.Read More -
Exploring Anatomy Through Art
Is it art or is it science? Students in Lisa Townley’s Interdisciplinary Studies elective, Studio Explorations of Anatomy, combined both disciplines, and more, as they explored the nature of human anatomy in the art studio this winter. Members of the Rivers community lent their expertise during the trimester to provide scientific and historical contexts for their studies. Samples of the students’ work will be on display in Bell Gallery this month.Read More -
The Open Door Project: Using Math to Serve the Community
Tori Wilbur’s Grade 6 math class learned an unforgettable lesson in the power of numbers during a recent unit on ratios that began in her classroom and ended up bringing smiles to a roomful of senior citizens.Read More -
Stage Combat Expert Lends Hand - And Sword - To Middle School
Rivers teachers have never been shy about sharing their interests with their students, and perhaps one of the most unusual examples of this is the Middle School Stage Combat class taught by Dr. Julian Willard, chair of Rivers Interdisciplinary Sudies department.Read More
Interdisciplinary Studies Department
List of 16 members.
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