Teaching and learning for critical thinking within interdisciplinary fields

Critical thinking is an important aim of higher education, and it is a skill particularly important in interdisciplinary fields. I am proposing a seminar where, based on an initial text and some central discussion questions, we can discuss our experiences with teaching and learning in an interdisciplinary manner. The experience from sustainability-related teaching shows that addressing interdisciplinary challenges requires reflection about one’s own educational background as well as about the complexities of the problems at hand. In a classroom with students from different disciplinary backgrounds, critical reflection about the limitations of the perspective one has been trained in is necessary. Likewise, complex societal challenges require insights regarding the multiplicity of variables involved as well as knowledge of the different methodologies and theories addressing these variables. Sustainability is only one of many interdisciplinary challenges where these issues come up in teaching and learning, and the seminar is open to anyone interested in teaching in interdisciplinary fields. The pedagogical questions I would like to raise are: How can we foster critical thinking in the classroom? Which methodologies exist, and how apt are they for this challenge? What are the opportunities created by teaching and learning in interdisciplinary settings? What are the specific challenges? And – what defines critical thinking? The aim of the seminar is to create a basis for improving teaching and learning for critical thinking at LU.