An ecological paradigm of interdisciplinary learning: Implications for design

In this commentary, I offer my insights from the Special Issue—Beyond disciplinary engagement: researching the ecologies of interdisciplinary learning—which, in my view, reframes interdisciplinarity. In contrast to the cognitivist paradigm—where research is largely concerned with learning processes that lead to an individual’s cognitive interdisciplinary learning outcome—in the ecological paradigm research is primarily concerned with the interdisciplinary learning processes that occur within groups. To address a concern regarding the usefulness of design principles in this framing, I use an approach for extending the applicability of design principles by augmenting them with designers’ dilemmas and solutions in various contexts. Three main dilemmas are discussed: (1) How to ensure students have access to disciplinary knowledge and epistemic resources, as they embark on the interdisciplinary work? (2) How to support the fine-grained socio-material-cultural processes involved in interdisciplinary learning between diverse learners, levels and/or disciplinary expertise? (3) How to build on, but also push the boundaries of existing infrastructures to develop new routines, social networks, physical and digital infrastructures to accommodate interdisciplinary learning from K-12 through higher education? A synthesis of the studies’ array of solutions is proposed as a preliminary roadmap for the design of ecologically-oriented interdisciplinary learning environments.