OBSCURING DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES IN AN UNDERGRADUATE GEOLOGY CURRICULUM

An approach for attracting students from an introductory course, and for helping our majors throughout the curriculum, is to actively obscure the, sometimes, arbitrary disciplinary boundaries that exist in higher education. Geology has always been the "interdisciplinary science." More often than not, however, attempts to display that interdisciplinarity are really multidisciplinary.

The distinction between multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary is subtle, yet profound in its implications. To truly take an interdisciplinary approach to science and to teaching is a challenge. It is more than coordination, more than cooperation, it is a true collaboration. Of all the disciplines however, geology lends itself well to displaying the true interdisciplinary nature of the science. And that relationship is not just within the natural sciences, but among the liberal arts and the social sciences.

Linkages in the classroom, both introductory and advanced, can relate geological features and processes to economics, literature, sociology, the medical sciences, history, and even the technical arts. Those relations will display to the student the far-reaching implications of geology on everyday life.

By revising each appropriate curricular element in a geology program to show tangible links to a diverse world, we aid students in appreciation, we create broader applicability for our science, and we will likely generate interest from previously untapped potential majors. The world of science is a far cry from what it was 20 years ago. We must bring those changes into the classroom.