Multidisciplinary Learning

Can knowledge be segregated into watertight compartments called physics, maths, literature, etc? A farmer uses science, economics, geography, and traditions together. When you read a newspaper, you bring language, history, ethics, and logic simultaneously into play. Why should a student’s learning be cut up into segments that seem to have no connection with each other?

Children think in wholes, not compartments. A child’s mind is not a timetable at all. Have you ever listened to children’s conversations? The sight of a bird can make them speak about a caged bird they saw somewhere, the question of freedom, migration of birds, a story about a bird they heard from grandma… They are all interrelated in the child’s mind.

Children don’t begin by separating. Facts and feelings go together for them. Logic and imagination too. It is the school that separates the numbers and the stories into math and language periods. A good teacher doesn’t say: “Stay within the subject.” She says (sometimes silently): “Let’s see where this idea leads.”

Multidisciplinary learning is the most natural thing to do. And it is not a technique; it is an attitude.

Children do not enter the classroom as future engineers or doctors. They enter as whole human beings. Education fragments them. [Some doctors are ominously fragmented creatures!]

Good education should make whole human beings.

Can we imagine something like theme-based learning?

Theme: Water

In physics class, the pressure of water is discussed.

Chemistry deals with the chemical composition and related aspects.

Geography goes to rivers and other water bodies.

History looks at some water-generated conflicts.

And my own beloved literature has infinite possibilities. Maybe, a poem, to start with.

Since we mentioned poem…

You’re familiar with Rabindranath Tagore’s poem ‘Where the mind is without fear,’ I’m sure. That’s a commonly quoted poem.

What does an English teacher do normally if she has to teach it? Paraphrase the poem, identify the figures of speech (ah, a very common question in exams as if figures of speech are matters of life and death), and give questions that are likely to come in the exam.

Multidisciplinary learning will

·      Discuss tone: prayer, plea, or political manifesto?

·      Examine imagery in detail: head held high, clear stream of reason [and get into the bad books of the leading political party 😊]

·      Ask: Who is this prayer addressed to and why?

The poem is already alive now in the classroom.

Add the context and see how literature mingles with history. It was written during the British rule. And Tagore was also disappointed with blind nationalism. Can we now connect it with the present India? Your choice.

What kind of freedom is Tagore asking for? Political or mental? [philosophy]

You can bring in as many subjects as you want.

·      Where knowledge is free” → Right to education, freedom of thought

·      “Narrow domestic walls” → Communalism, casteism, linguistic divisions

·      “Clear stream of reason” → Scientific temper (explicitly mentioned in the Indian Constitution)

I would dare to get into potential trouble too by raising questions like:

·      What fears stop people from speaking freely today?

·      Why do societies prefer obedience over questioning?

·      Is fear always external – or often internal?

Depending on the ‘ambience’ of your class, you can also bring into the discussion social media echo chambers, misinformation, cancel culture, FOMO…

What about assessment questions like: Write a paragraph on - Is India closer or farther from Tagore’s dream today?

A group discussion on: Which line troubles you the most, and why?

Since I’m an English teacher, I took the above example. Every subject teacher can use similar innovations and modifications. Of course, when we are in a hurry to “complete the portion,” multidisciplinary learning becomes a casualty.

One complaint I’ve heard frequently is that teachers can’t be expected to know so many different subjects. No. No one is asking teachers to be omniscient. It’s more about letting the students think, express their views, and connect the lesson with their actual experiences or feelings or beliefs… About making the class really meaningful.

Previous Posts

Relevance of Education

Education and Making the Human

Syllabus: Where More Becomes the Enemy of Learning

Exam: The God

Competencies in School