A Chemist’s Lessons and Recommendation for Interdisciplinarity Teaching and Learning
Introduction
According to Nikola, interdisciplinarity presents a complex challenge in chemistry. Many chemists view the field as inherently interdisciplinary, starting with physics and maths and extending into applications across various sectors. However, non-chemists might regard chemistry as a single discipline. For Nikola, as a chemist, interdisciplinarity involves “applying diverse knowledge to enhance his understanding of chemistry”. He describes it as “looking from the inside out, rather than from the outside in,” addressing problems from multiple perspectives.
He emphasises the importance of interdisciplinarity for his students, believing it to be critical for their future employment. He notes that students often remain within disciplinary boundaries throughout their education, but upon entering the job market, they must step outside those boundaries. In the real world, they will need to manage and communicate with a range of people, including scientists, clients, and other stakeholders, requiring a variety of skills beyond a single discipline. He argues, “I don't think there are many jobs in the real world for people who have university education in a single discipline.” Since most jobs are multidisciplinary, he believes universities must “catch up to the fact that our students sometimes need more than just to be excellent chemists, statisticians, or mathematicians. They also need the broadness of vision to appreciate how their expertise and skills fit within the wider picture.”
He further believes that the more opportunities students have to broaden their perspectives, the more they will understand the bigger picture. This, in turn, will enhance their employability and future prospects.
Dr Nikola Chmel
Principles of Practice
Designing Interdisciplinary Courses from Scratch
For master’s programmes, which are typically only one year long and offer limited flexibility due to intensive timetables, Nikola believes that designing interdisciplinary courses from scratch is an effective way to give students access to modules from various departments. This approach allows students to engage in interdisciplinary study despite the constraints. In the Department of Chemistry, this method has been applied to postgraduate degrees, particularly in the “Chemistry and Scientific Writing” and “Scientific Research and Communication” programmes. These programmes consist of three core modules, with the remainder of the curriculum agreed upon with a mentor. This allows students to select modules from different departments within the Faculty of Science, though this limitation restricts module selection to that faculty. Nonetheless, students have the opportunity to study courses from the Centre for Applied Linguistics, within the Chemistry Department, and participate in the skills training programme run by the department.
Building learning communities also aligns with “findings in social science about decision making” where “decision making tends to be better done by diverse teams.” In terms of the skills that students gain by working on these group projects, they learn “project design, project management, [and] execution.” Students also need to present their projects for peer assessment. Gavin asserts that “presentation skills to a diverse audience….is really something that is very important in real life because real life problems are not chemistry problems or math problems.”
Bringing Different Perspectives from Different Departments
What particularly fascinates Nikola about interdisciplinary teaching at the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL) is its unique ability to bring students from different departments together. This cross-departmental interaction is often a challenge within traditional disciplinary structures. In most departments, interdisciplinarity is approached by “looking outwards,” where a chemist might teach concepts from other disciplines. According to Nikola, true interdisciplinary teaching—where individuals from different fields come together to share their expertise—is rare because it is difficult to organise. However, the Department of Chemistry has successfully implemented this by designing modules from scratch in collaboration with departments such as Statistics, Physics, Engineering, the Medical School, and Life Sciences. Faculty from these diverse disciplines contribute to teaching different modules, although these courses are still restricted to students within those specific departments.
Moving Forward
Collaborate Instead of Reinventing the Wheel
Nikola advises that, rather than reinventing the wheel to introduce interdisciplinarity into one’s pedagogy, it is more effective to collaborate with colleagues who have already integrated interdisciplinary approaches into their teaching. His research shows that many master’s courses at Warwick often feature duplication, particularly in skills training such as scientific writing, communication, and presentation skills. Different departments offer separate modules to teach these skills to their own students. However, he believes that delivering these trainings to a “mixed audience” would be highly beneficial. Students from different departments would bring unique perspectives and styles, enriching the interdisciplinary learning experience. This is one of the aspects of IATL’s courses that Nikola finds particularly compelling—they take a subject and examine it from multiple perspectives. He argues that departments should adopt this approach more often, focusing not only on “interdisciplinary applications” but also on integrating diverse viewpoints to discuss various topics.
Overcoming Organisational Challenges
Nikola acknowledges that university timetables, systems, and cost structures are “not necessarily very flexible” for students who wish to take courses from different departments. These logistical barriers make it challenging for students to engage in interdisciplinary learning or explore subjects outside their own department to broaden their perspectives. Without addressing these barriers, he believes it will be difficult to truly “serve students,” especially when academics are often expected to prioritise their department’s interests. To overcome this, Nikola suggests working collaboratively across departments to synergise efforts, rather than duplicating resources on courses that may not fully engage students.
Engaging Students with Zero-Credit Learning
Nikola recognises that students are often concerned about their grades, which may deter them from participating in activities or lectures that encourage interdisciplinary learning. To address this, he recommends implementing zero-credit learning opportunities, which would not affect students’ grades or involve formal assessments. Instead, these sessions would focus purely on learning concepts from different perspectives. This approach would appeal to students who are interested in interdisciplinary learning while providing a low-pressure environment for those hesitant to step outside their academic comfort zone.
