The Future of Knowledge: The Role of Epistemic Insight in Interdisciplinary Learning

How can we design our lives to be sustainable amidst an uncertain future for our planet?
How do we know what to trust in an online world rife with misinformation?
How can we confront our mental health crises?
How can we overcome polarization on issues of critical importance to our shared existence?
How can we work together with those who see the world differently to us?

Confronting these questions requires us to consider what the ’future of knowledge’ might be, including the distinctive roles that disciplines across the sciences, arts and humanities might play. Epistemic insight is the ’knowledge about knowledge’ needed to navigate the similarities and differences between disciplines and how they approach these questions differently. However, many education systems operate with a compartmentalized structure that limits the development of epistemic insight and thus our ability to provide students with the ’knowledge about knowledge’ they need.

This open access book draws from 10 years of research into how epistemic insight can transform compartmentalized structures of learning. It presents a range of strategies and approaches for how educators, including schoolteachers, teacher educators, lecturers and education policy-makers, can facilitate epistemically insightful educational experiences. This book provides a distinctive contribution to the field of inter/multi/transdisciplinary education and will be of interested to anyone exploring the power and potential of these approaches.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF).

Berry Billingsley is Professor of Science Education at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK.