Using Iceland as a Model for Interdisciplinary Honors Study

National Collegiate Honors Council. 1100 Neihardt Residence Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 540 North 16th Street, Lincoln, NE 68588. Tel: 402-472-9150; Fax: 402-472-9152; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://nchchonors.org

Y

22

Foreign Countries; Interdisciplinary Approach; Honors Curriculum; Models; Educational History; Course Descriptions; Course Content; Participant Satisfaction; Academic Achievement; Geographic Regions; Field Trips; Cultural Education; Environmental Education; Genetics; Economics Education; Physical Geography; Student Participation; Student Evaluation; College Programs

Iceland; United States

1559-0151

Interdisciplinary approaches do not merely satisfy an abstract longing; in post-educational life--especially in a secular, Western, post-modern culture--young people must confront complex issues that transcend any one discipline. Educational systems accordingly have a duty to offer frameworks for understanding this complexity that go beyond any single discipline. In this sense, interdisciplinarity promises a very practical tool kit. Washington State University Honors College has developed a productive interdisciplinary model geographically centered on Iceland and incorporating four academic angles, or disciplines. Kim Andersen and Gary Thorgaard have taught this upper-division honors course, Interdisciplinary Iceland, three times (in the fall of 2010, 2011, 2012) with an average of twenty-five students. In addition, a faculty-led trip to Iceland during the summer of 2012 (also involving Norway) provided valuable experience. In hopes that their course might serve as a practical model for others honors programs, they describe how the course came about, the content areas of the course, the student accomplishments and reactions, and the benefits and complexities of their particular model.

ERIC

44

2015

EJ1081538