Science Beyond the Boundaries

Interdisciplinary science teaching (16-19)

Science, and its consequences, are a pervasive presence in 21st century life. Currently, however, there is a mismatch between the experiences young people have of science in schools and the way scientists work in the real world. In schools, science is taught in ways that mean it is not often connected to other subjects. However, scientists work in areas where subject boundaries are becoming more blurred and interdisciplinary work is increasingly important.

Science Beyond the Boundaries is a collection of free resources for interdisciplinary teaching about applications of science.

Each teaching unit, which are listed at the bottom of this webpage, is designed to enable both teachers and students to develop a richer view of science and appreciate the ways in which science helps answer some of the big questions facing society today.

• Ideal to use within a sixth-form enrichment programme.
• Each unit can be taught flexibly using between three and eight hours of teaching time.
• Each unit is fully resourced and requires minimal teacher preparation time.

All of the resources have been developed by the University of York Science Education Group in collaboration with the Institute of Education, University College London. They have been funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation.

Interdisciplinary science teaching units

The research evidence-informed resources for each unit provide:

• teacher notes including:
  • an intended learning outcome
  • clearly structured learning activities
  • key background information
  • links to AS/A level specifications
• a PowerPoint presentation
• a set of student worksheets and learning activities.

As a whole, the units combine to develop a range of skills and competencies that will be useful for studying at university and/or for working in the modern world.

Online training

An online training course for teachers can be accessed from the FutureLearn platform.

The course, called ‘Teaching Science Beyond the Boundaries’, will enable you to:

• explore the ways science can answer some of the biggest questions facing society
• identify the role of interdisciplinary teaching within the science field
• and discover how interdisciplinary teaching can be successfully embedded into your curriculum.

Research base

Science Beyond the Boundaries teaching resources have been developed as part of a research project:

• to develop innovative teaching approaches (a suite of resources, pedagogy and associated professional development) for teachers of upper high school science subjects to enable them to enhance their students’ understanding of, and critical engagement with, how the sciences intersect with other disciplines;
• to undertake research into the impact of these approaches on (a) science teachers’ and students’ understanding of how science intersects with other disciplines; and (b) science teachers’ and students’ views of the approaches and how they have influenced their views of science and how it should be taught.