Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities

Abstract Different developments including technological growth and increased human problems made interdisciplinary cooperation inevitable. On the other hand, traditional attitude to academic fields and specialization has prevented higher education from creating necessary capacities to confront those development and face new challenges. Therefore, one of the necessities of higher education is to foster interdisciplinary skills in both educational and research fields. This paper reviews concepts of educational courses and interdisciplinary in higher education with emphasis on the need to foster interdisciplinary thinking as prerequisite of all kinds of interdisciplinary activities. Then “issue-based learning’ has been described because this new educational method enjoys many capacities to promote interdisciplinary skills. In conclusion, a special model of issue-based learning called “interdisciplinary problem solving model” has been briefly explained as an applied model for educational courses.

Abstract Curriculum has been a matter of interest to analytical philosophers; Hurst maintains that teaching is by nature an activity which may assume many forms. Analytical philosophers believe that educational and curriculum planning is done in a wrong way and the only logical reason for many educational programs is their cultural orientation. Presumptions about knowledge, forms of knowledge and internal relations among them should be taken into consideration. Analytical philosophers maintain that more attention should be paid to philosophical aspects and people should be encouraged to work more in this regard. This issue has been discussed in educational philosophy of London school of thought and by great philosophers of that school, especially Hurst, by delineating “forms of knowledge” theory. Hurst has classified forms of knowledge and while rejecting unity of knowledge, has paid attention to its very forms. He believes that human knowledge has forms which are logical distinct from one another, He mentions mathematics, Physics, human sciences, history, religious sciences, literature, fine arts, and philosophy as seven forms of knowledge. The present paper aims to review philosophical fundaments of interdisciplinary curricula in higher education of forms of knowledge” as seen by analytical philosophers through documentary analytical methods.
 

Abstract Despite its quantitative growth, higher education system is unable to solve social problems. The Ministry of Science, Research and Technology has taken many decisions to review curricula, but they have not been useful and we still teach educational courses in the traditional way. Identifying reasons behind failure of plans, trying to reach a common understanding of interdisciplinary subjects, correcting understanding of educational courses and preparing teachers and professors to look at specialized courses in a systematic way while avoiding of concentration on a single specialty, are inevitable solutions for social problems. In this study, theoretical basis of interdisciplinary knowledge has been examined by emphasis on educational sciences and its various aspects as seen by educational experts.