Page 6 - Interdisciplinary Studies 11-12 (2002)

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THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12: INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES
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An interdisciplinary studies course in small business operations would integrate studies in technological design and business entrepreneurship to enable students to address the specific needs of an identified market. In such a course, students would analyse needs, design and develop both prototypes and finished products (e.g., a business plan in electronic format that uses arresting graphics and effective hypertext links similar to business plans used by interna- tional enterprises), and apply entrepreneurial and design skills either to school and commu- nity projects or to potential employment ventures. Both their academic and applied work would help students recognize their strengths and skills for current and future employment.
To deal with today’s issues, students also require interdisciplinary1 skills that focus on the issues themselves, especially skills related to the research process, information management, collabo- ration, critical and creative thinking, and technological applications. Students need to know new methods and forms of analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and evaluation that will allow them to build on skills acquired through the core curriculum. Interdisciplinary practitioners can use modern systems-thinking and systems-design2 approaches to investigate how lasting solutions take into account all external and internal factors. Using models and prototypes, stu- dents can simulate ideas and test variables to produce new products or perspectives or find and implement solutions that go beyond established disciplines.
To make sense of the growth and often disparate nature of data and information, students must become information literate.3 To do this, they must be able to combine diverse models of research and inquiry, integrate a range of information-management skills and technologies, and apply the processes of information organization, storage, and retrieval to new situations and across many disciplines. Consequently, it is important to recognize that the skills, knowledge, insights, and innovations of the discipline of information studies are central to interdisciplinary work.
Students with well-developed information studies skills and knowledge will have increased marketability in a variety of careers. For instance, biology and chemistry graduates who know how to use global networks for scientific research to retrieve information and manage data will have greater opportunities for work in research labs. In the same way, graduates of economics, history, and political science who have taken courses requiring them to use information systems, online databases, and advanced research methods should have increased employment opportunities.
1. For the purposes of this document, the term interdisciplinary is used to describe an approach to learning and knowl- edge that integrates and benefits from the understanding and application of the approaches of different subjects and dis- ciplines. The course expectations in this document reflect the following approaches: multidisciplinary approaches where the subjects or disciplines are connected through a theme, issue, problem, or research question; interdisciplinary approaches where a theme, issue, problem, or research question defines the approach taken and directs the attempt to seek a synthesis across subject/discipline boundaries; transdisciplinary approaches where real-life contexts direct learning that goes beyond particular subjects or disciplines.
2. Systems thinking is the method used to systematically analyse how all internal and external factors, both real and hypo- thetical, related to systems or organizations interact to create results (e.g., an analysis of the many interrelated factors – social, political, economic, and cultural – related to creating and promoting a new museum exhibition). Systems design is a set of methods, activities, and technologies (e.g., use of models and prototypes) for applying systems thinking in order to create and describe new solutions to significant issues or problems.
3. Information literacy is the ability to access, select, gather, critically evaluate, and communicate information in all disci- plines, and to use the information obtained to solve problems, make decisions, develop knowledge, and create new ideas and personal meaning.