Transdisciplinarity: Shaping the Future by Reading the Word and Reading the World in an Eighth Grade Classroom
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Spring 2012
Abstract
In this essay I pose questions to literacy teacher educators and classroom teachers to inspire them to review their epistemological beliefs about teaching, learning, and knowledge. I also provide some history of transdisciplinarity, and introduce readers to "Miss Smith", a composite of five middle school teachers who hold a transdisciplinary orientation. Next, I connect some important tenets of transdisciplinarity to a holistic inquiry conducted by Miss Smith and her students. An expert in curriculum and educational policy then offers a response commentary about the power and challenges of transdisciplinary teaching. I conclude the essay with some final questions for readers to prompt their thinking about the dominant standards-based assessments in United States schools today and the feasibility of a future transdisciplinary curriculum. ["Transdisciplinarity: Shaping the Future by Reading the Word and Reading the World in an Eighth Grade Classroom" includes "Transdisciplinary Teaching is Possible, but Is It Realistic? Might Miss Smith Blend Transdisciplinary and Traditional Teaching Approaches? A Response Commentary to Miss Smith's Philosophy and Pedagogy," by Diane Kroeger.]
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Reading Improvement, v. 49, issue 1, p. 6-16
Scholar Commons Citation
Richards, Janet, "Transdisciplinarity: Shaping the Future by Reading the Word and Reading the World in an Eighth Grade Classroom" (2012). Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications. 581.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/tal_facpub/581
