Interdisciplinary Inquiry: Bridging the Conceptual Worlds of Science and Mathematics

• In Event: Student Understanding in Science

Abstract

This paper explores a new pedagogical approach to teaching and learning, which we have called interdisciplinary inquiry. It brings together two key educational ideas, interdisciplinary learning and IBL approaches. This research, which was employed in a number of schools in England, utilized the notion of a ‘bridging concept’ to facilitate learning across mathematics and science. In this paper we investigate the response of mathematics and science teachers to working with newly developed pedagogical materials focusing on FLOW as a bridging concept. The inquiry-based approaches were central to the activity and philosophy of the lessons, where for instance, problem solving and modelling in mathematics fed into and out of, scientific investigations.

Authors

• Graham Hardy, University of Manchester

• Andrew John Howes, The University of Manchester