Alternative Pedagogies at the Crux of Interdisciplinarity: Promises and Pitfalls of “Innovating” Education - I

Abstract

Science and technology not only describe the focus of research for STS scholars but very often constitute our physical presence within academic institutions. Historians and philosophers of technology teach ethics classes in engineering departments, while anthropologists and sociologists reside in faculties of science – the range of employment possibilities and STS’ impact within STEM fields appear as unbound. Despite STS’ presence in these fields, our pedagogies vary significantly from STEM’s teaching models by following the disciplinary methods, principles, and traditions of social sciences and humanities. However, due to their growing popularity, technological countercultures such as making and hacking have found acceptance within these diverse academic areas, particularly at the crux of interdisciplinarity in which STS exists (Chachra, 2015; Rosner, 2018; Sayers, 2018).

Yet novel and “alternative” attempts such as digital humanities, critical making, and material practice remain on the margins of traditional pedagogies of STS-related and STEM disciplines. Simultaneously, more recent educational reforms follow a neoliberal course of merging social sciences and humanities into STEM thus promising to increase the critical thinking capacities of students. In other instances, such endeavors result in the foundation of “innovation hubs” proposing the improvement of STEM education through a systematization and quantification of critical theory and social methods under the vague label of “soft skills.”

In the light of “making and doing” and an interest in STS with the promise of hands-on practices, this open panel welcomes paper proposals engaging the multiplicity of issues related to the unfolding of “alternative” pedagogies.

Individual Presentations

• Design + STS: Challenges and Opportunities for Pedagogy in a Post-Disciplinary Laboratory - Daniel Cardoso Llach, Carnegie Mellon University; Daragh Byrne, Carnegie Mellon University; Mine Ozkar, Istanbul Technical University

• Innovating at the Margins, Regenerating in the Middle: Constructing STS and IS in a Comprehensive Polytechnic - Elizabeth A Lowham, California Polytechnic State University; Dawn Neill, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo; Jane L Lehr, California Polytechnic State University

• Design Based Learning for Innovation: A Revolution within Higher Education? - Jean-Claude Ruano-Borbalan, CNAM (National Art & Craft Conservatory) Paris

Session Organizers

• Yana Boeva, Nuremberg Institute of Technology

• Ellen K Foster, Purdue University

• James Malazita, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute