What are disciplines and why join them?
A discipline is a subject with its own questions, words and ways of finding answers. Biology studies living things. Economics studies choices about scarce resources. History studies the past through evidence.
Each discipline is organised in its own way: key ideas, methods (experiments, surveys, archives) and rules for good evidence. Big real issues, such as climate change, health or water, cross these borders.
- Multidisciplinary: several subjects study the issue side by side, but do not mix.
- Interdisciplinary: subjects are joined, so their ideas change each other and a new, combined answer appears.
- Transdisciplinary: experts and the community build one shared approach that goes beyond school subjects.
Each subject also brings a perspective (a point of view) and bias. Seeing many perspectives helps us notice what one view misses.
Skills and strategies
Interdisciplinary work needs critical thinking (asking "how do we know?"), creative thinking (joining ideas in new ways), collaboration (working in teams with different strengths) and communication. Useful tools: concept maps, Venn diagrams, mind maps, and a research journal to record decisions.
The research process step by step
1. Prepare
Choose an issue you care about. Narrow it to a clear question, for example: "How can a city of 2 million people cut water use by 20% fairly?" Write a plan with a timeline.
2. Access resources
Use varied sources: books, journals, government data, interviews, surveys, field observations. Primary sources are first-hand (your survey). Secondary sources explain others' work (a news article).
3. Process information
Sort notes by sub-question, put data into tables and graphs, find patterns, and note where subjects agree or disagree. Always record where each fact came from (citation) to avoid plagiarism.
Evaluating, communicating and judging impact
Assess sources
Check each source with simple tests: Who wrote it, and are they an expert? Is it recent? Is there evidence? Is it fair or trying to sell something? Do other sources agree?
Communicate
Share findings to fit the audience: a report, poster, podcast, model or presentation. Show how each subject added to the answer.
Evaluate and reflect
Judge your own work: Did you answer the question? What were the limits? What would you change? Then think about impacts: who gains, who loses, and what side effects (social, economic, environmental, ethical) your solution might have.
Key formulas and definitions
- Discipline = a subject with its own questions, words and methods
- Multidisciplinary = side by side; Interdisciplinary = joined and mixed
- Research path: Plan → Access → Process → Evaluate → Share
- Primary source = first-hand; Secondary source = explains others' work
- Source check: author, date, evidence, purpose, agreement
Worked examples
1. A class studies plastic in the ocean using only chemistry. Then they add economics and media studies. Which kind of study is the second one?
If the three subjects only report separately, it is multidisciplinary. If they combine ideas, for example chemistry shows which plastics last longest, economics shows which are cheapest to replace, and media studies shows how to persuade shoppers, and these together produce one plan, it is interdisciplinary.
2. Turn the broad topic "health and phones" into a focused research question.
Step 1: pick a group (teenagers aged 15–17). Step 2: pick a measurable effect (hours of sleep). Step 3: add a link between subjects (biology of sleep + design of apps). Question: "How do phone notifications after 10 p.m. affect the sleep hours of 15–17-year-olds, and what app design changes could help?"
3. You find three sources on water use: a 2009 blog by a water-filter company, a 2023 government water report, and a 2022 university study. Rank them.
Best: the 2022 university study (expert, peer-reviewed, recent) and the 2023 government report (official data, recent). Weakest: the 2009 company blog: old, and the writer wants to sell filters, so it may be biased.
Common mistakes
- Calling any group project "interdisciplinary" even when the subjects never connect.
- Choosing a question so broad ("climate change") that it cannot be answered.
- Using only one type of source, or only sources that agree with you.
- Forgetting to cite sources, which counts as plagiarism.