“Don’t you start going solo here!” Design for and Analysis of Interdisciplinary Learning Processes for a University Nanoscience Course

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to design a nanoscience course for first-year university students. The designing of the course was realized through design-based research, beginning with the characterization of the context of the course and the most pressing learning goals for the course – the skills a student in nanosciences should have. The characterization involved expert panel inter-views, a survey of Finnish opportunities for studying nanosciences, as well as a literature review on interdisciplinary studies. The chosen outcomes for the course were for students to build their skills of collaboration, belong to a network of nanoscience students, recognize examples of disciplinary cultures, gain experiences in swapping between disciplinary perspectives, and skills for building common ground between concepts and theories. The course design was implemented in 2012 and 2013, with data collected on students’ discussions throughout their interdisciplinary group work in the laboratory. The analysis was based on qualitative methodologies; coding the discussions and finding overlap between design features and the mediating processes for each course outcome, as well as a conversation analysis study of the excerpts where disciplines entered the student group discussions. The design goals of the course were met except for the experiences in swapping between disciplinary perspectives; it was found to be particularly difficult and uncomfortable for students to experience situations demanding this without extra supports from the materials or teachers. The fruitfulness of the laboratory environment in learning collaborative skills was also evidenced in the study. The findings indicate that the first-year students already are apt disciplinary categorizers of one another as well of concepts and methodologies. This key skill received relevant practice with the course materials, showing this intervention to be both effective and relevant.