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Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Cultural Understanding
Significance. Global flows of immigrants, information, and new technologies are requiring that youth develop new cultural sensibilities as well as a capacity for understanding multiple perspectives never required of previous generations. Education must prepare students to understand global systems, to think analytically and creatively within and across disciplines and to interact respectfully and productively with individuals from an array of cultural backgrounds. Today, encounters with others from around the world are inevitable-whether it be through media and information exchanges, travel, or in interactions within neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. Students must
develop the cognitive flexibility to analyze problems from multiple perspectives and across disciplines as well as the ability to work with others who are more likely than ever before to come from different cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds. Recognizing recurring historical as well as emerging patterns in a variety of historical periods and cultures is essential to provide perspective taking and intercultural understanding. The Ross Lab School has over the course of the last 13 years developed and refined an innovative, highly engaging and timely interdisciplinary curriculum	Larger View
for cultural understanding. This interdisciplinary curriculum, woven around a core of cultural history, allows students to interact with cultures, past and present, and fosters student understanding of themselves in the context of the

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	Research Questions

	How do we educate teachers to participate in a collaborative process to develop this interdisciplinary curriculum, a process that places them in the seat of a learner and of a teacher? How do teachers trained within a specific discipline begin to think as generalists? How do they learn to think from the perspective of other disciplines? How do teacher practices change as a result of interdisciplinary collaborations with colleagues? How does interdisciplinary thinking develop? How does assessment around interdisciplinary outcomes drive the development of interdisciplinary curriculum? How does learning content through an interdisciplinary curriculum make "learning easier" and engage students? How does this approach to learning shape students as learners? How does this approach to student learning affect their world view? How does exposure to this curriculum help students be better prepared to interact positively with others of diverse backgrounds? How can we educate for cultural tolerance and inter-cultural competence? How can we cultivate human capital without disrespecting personhood, discounting human differences and marginalizing individuals and groups? Of what value is this type of learning in this age and what specific aspects of it are of most value? What aspects of the model of interdisciplinary curriculum development are critical for the desired outcomes to occur with students and with teachers?

	Collaboration
			Sonic Convergence: A three-continent, student, teacher and mentor collaboration.

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