BRIDGING DISCIPLINES FOR BETTER LEARNING:

Interdisciplinary Projects at the College of General Studies,

Boston University

• A 2-year, interdisciplinary, team-taught general education program (1200 students)

• Taught exclusively by full-time faculty with Ph.D.s—NO adjuncts, T.A.s or T.F.s

• Freshman courses:– Humanities– Social Sciences– Rhetoric, plus an elective

• Sophomore courses:– Humanities– Social Sciences– Natural Sciences, plus elective

THE COLLEGE OF GENERAL STUDIES AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY:

• Because 80 students share the same 3 CGS faculty, creating projects that ask students to explore the connections between their courses is relatively easy

• But similar projects can be constructed in a non-team system as well

• We regularly run 3 joint projects on our sophomore teams:– Applying political philosophy to

analyze an event in a communist revolution

– Applying just war theory to analyze a recent U.S. military conflict

– Capstone project

TEAM SYSTEM FOSTERS INTER-DISCIPLINARY LEARNING

• In Humanities 201 students survey ethical philosophy from Ancient Greece to the 19th century

• In Social Science 201 students study the Russian and Chinese communist revolutions

• We ask them to focus on the political philosophy of either Rousseau or Hobbes

• And use it to interpret a key moment in either the Russian or Chinese revolutions

1ST JOINT PROJECT:ROUSSEAU, HOBBES, AND COMMUNIST REVOLUTIONS

A LENS FOR ANALYZINGREVOLUTIONS:

BENEFITS?UNDERSTANDING

Without the philosophic lens, history can seem like just a series of events; without the historical framework, the philosophy seems too abstract.

APPLIED LEARNING:STUDENTS UNDERSTAND AND REMEMBER MORE WHEN THEY APPLY THEIR LEARNING

Assignments in ANY class can encourage students to apply course material to other courses, whether students are in a team system or not.

• In Soc. Science 202 students study U.S. foreign policy, including U.S. involvement in Vietnam and Iraq

• In Humanities 202 students study applied ethics, including just war theory which articulates principles that can help to determine whether and how war can be waged justly.

• This project asks students to take principles of just war theory and use them to determine if the wars in Vietnam or Iraq were just

2ND JOINT PROJECT:JUST WAR THEORY & VIETNAM OR IRAQ WARS

• Was there just cause for fighting? (i.e. response to an attack)

• Was war the last resort? (have all other measures been tried?)

• Is it reasonable to expect that the war will bring about more good than harm?

• Were the means used in proportion to the goals sought?

• Was every attempt made to protect non-combatants (civilians)?

JUST WAR:

JUS AD BELLUM &

JUS IN BELLO

JUSTICEAND VIETNAM OR IRAQ

BENEFITS:THE WARS BREATHE LIFE INTO THE PHILOSOPHY; THE PHILOSOPHY PROVIDES A FRAMEWORK FOR INTERPRETING THE WARS.

• Both projects helped students prepare for the Capstone project at the end of their sophomore year.

• Capstone is a group-written, 50-page research proposal that requires students to draw on all of their CGS classes plus research to analyze a current real-world problem and present a valid solution.

• E.g.: Ending Hunger in Boston, OR Stopping Deforestation in Chiapas

• Capstone enables us to assess our students’ development using a rubric--

CAPSTONE—ADDRESSES THE CORE COMPETENCIESWE AIM TO DEVELOP AT CGS

• For more information, see our website:

www.bu.edu/cgs/center-for-interdisciplinary-teaching-learning

• CONSIDER SUBMITTING ESSAYS FOR OUR

JOURNAL IMPACT AT THIS SITE OR at

www.citl.submishmash.com

THANKS TO THE DAVIS

EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR FUNDING

FOR OUR ASSESSMENT

PROJECT!