Interdisciplinary thinking in agricultural and life sciences higher education.

ABSTRACT

Interdisciplinary thinking as a skill appears to be of value to higher education students and those in employment. This idea is explored with reference to the agricultural and life sciences. The need for further understanding of the development of interdisciplinary thinking is acknowledged. This is closely related to the requirement for well-founded curriculum and course design. This publication presents a brief introduction to a systematic review of scientific research into teaching and learning in interdisciplinary higher education. While tentative, the understanding arising from the review findings is considered to be of potential value to educational practice. A selection of the review findings is presented by way of illustration. The selection is believed to be of relevance to the agricultural and life sciences. The review findings presented here take the form of interdisciplinary thinking sub skills and enabling conditions.