Interdisciplinary project database

Nature Walks

When we’re overwhelmed and feeling hopeless, we can seek out time for introspection, relaxation, and calm. The best way to do this? Getting outside! Take students on a city or nature walk with no specific goal: just relax.

Collages

For students who struggle with illustration, art can be a daunting task. Challenge students to create collages using magazines and other print media, teaching the principles of design that let the artwork flourish.

What is Success?

Consider why someone may lose hope or passion overtime. Could it be an unrealistic view of “success”? A lack of confidence in school? Feeling like one stands out? Self-doubt? Address this issue by conducting research and presenting your findings.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Create a cost-benefit analysis for another decision you face in life now or in the future. Alternatively, create a cost of living analysis of the community in which you live.

Mural

A symbol and gathering spot of one’s local community is often a mural: something that highlights the community, its history and inhabitants. Conceptualize what a mural would look like for your school or local community. What would it include? Make a proposition: is this something you could take on?

Employer "Skills"

Survey teachers, family members, community members, local employers and employees, about the top 10 skills they want to see in their students, kids, and future employees. Compare their top 10 list with this one from the World Economic Forum. What is similar or different?

International Negotiation

Negotiations on the world stage require many moving parts. Examine a recent international negotiation by your country, such as a trade agreement or defense agreement. Who were the key players? What was being negotiated? Did both sides get everything that they wanted? Did their respective populace agree with the compromise?

Budgeting

Use a tool like Google Sheets or other spreadsheet program to develop a detailed monthly budget for a year of living in your chosen location. Use formulas and other spreadsheet tools to help track your finances.

Art and Death

Death is inevitable. And as a result, art has always exemplified (and even celebrated) the concept of death. Create an art piece that highlights the meaning, symbolism, and emotions evoked through death.

Cultural Sites

Research cultural sites (monuments, natural features, museums/galleries, World Heritage sites, religious sites, etc.) related to the locations found in the below lesson. What makes them important to the cultural heritage of a country? In what ways do they contribute to the desirability of an area?

Credability

Use the Credibility Game as a starting point or design your own quiz game to help students understand and evaluate reliable, credible sources.

Infinity

Consider the concept of scale. What about…infinite scale? As something impossible for humans to perceive, we’ve always been fascinated with the idea of infinite space. Conduct research and prepare a presentation, art piece, or community dialogue on why it’s worth exploring the idea of infinity.

Counteracting Stereotypes

Learn about how art can be used to intentionally break apart stereotypes. Music, dance, and traditional art all have the power to counteract stereotypes and make people think abstractly and critically about a multitude of issues.

City Aesthetics

What will the city of the future look like? Beyond infrastructure and strictly logistics, aesthetics are also incredibly important to a flourishing city. Study different forms of architecture historically and around the world. Then, have students brainstorm their own unique, intriguing, or outright wacky versions of new, modern architecture.

Accidental Discoveries

Scientists are frequently making discoveries that have a wide-ranging impact on society. Consider all of the accidental discoveries that scientists have made. How has this impacted the systems of our society?

Learning About Community

Perform in-depth research about a community in your neighborhood. Interview and speak to the residents and learn about their traditions, celebrations, and lifestyles. How does it differ from what you do at home? Prepare a report that can be shown off to other residents.

Take Action on Social Media Use

Investigate the impact of social media on young people. Whether it is extremism, social isolation, self-image, or any other drawback, prepare an interactive report that informs other young people on ways to use social media appropriately.

Take Action on Hunger

Identify a local non-profit organization that is working to solve the hunger crisis. Reach out to the organization and find ways that you can assist, such as designing marketing resources, hosting a funding drive, or working directly at the organization’s headquarters.

Clear Mathematics

Clearly communicating is a challenging task. Clearly communicating problems and concepts of mathematics is even more challenging. Ask students to present information on a mathematical concept or solution to an equation to the class. Coach them on the best ways of clearly communicating and understanding this information.

Ethnography

An ethnography is an observational research method used to understand societies and cultures. Create an ethnography of your class, highlighting unique characteristics of individuals of groups, routines and rituals, etc.

AI & Mathematics

How can artificial intelligence be used to improve our understanding of mathematics?

One way AI can be used to improve our understanding of mathematics is by providing a way to visualize mathematical concepts. For example, consider the concept of a function. AI can be used to create a 3D graph of a function, which can help us to better understand how the function behaves. Additionally, AI can be used to create models of mathematical problems, which can help us to better understand the underlying principles at work.

Standing Up for Others

Standing up for yourself also means standing up for others, especially on community issues. Identify a problem that you see in your community and connect with other activists to demand change. Join a campaign or start one yourself to bring awareness to a problem and lend your expertise in a certain way (such as through art, marketing, or organizing).

Global Media

Consider historical events, works of art, novels, movies, and music that are popular in other countries but not your own. Using subtitles or a translation service, analyze the works and highlight their popularity in the other country. Create a collection of various works that can be shown off to others to appreciate the culture.

Ptolemaic and Copernican

Examine the great debate between the Ptolemaic system and the Copernican system. Why did people believe in both of these ideas? What conflicts emerged as a result of Copernicus’ theories? How did our modern view of the Earth revolving around the Sun emerge as mainstream knowledge?

World Introductions

Read about how different cultures introduce themselves throughout the world. Challenge student assumptions about culture: are some introductions more appropriate or professional than others? What does it mean to be “appropriate” or “professional”?

Misleading Graphs

Misleading Graphs is a great resource to help students understand how to lie and mislead with statistics and graphic information. Have students improve upon the examples on the site. Give students a data set and have them create their own “misleading graph”!

Food Deserts

Research local food deserts in your area. Figure out why there is a food desert there. Conduct interviews with local businesses or trusted adults, compiling this information, which can help inform organizations and politicians on why and how this needs to be changed.

Advances in Community

Consider how massive advances in your community have been made as a result of struggle and debate on a certain historical issue. Visit a local library, community center, or community activist and learn about what struggles the community has faced. Then, prepare a presentation on this issue, demonstrating to your peers why compromise is important.

Science and Career

There are many different specializations in science, from looking at the stars to analyzing human behavior. Demonstrate to students the number of different ways in which science can be applied through career opportunities.

Zen

Incorporate philosophical principles through the use of meditation and mindfulness. How can finding inner-peace lead to making conscious decisions? Utilize the ideas of silence and Zen thinking to focus on both movement, physical activity, and self-reflection.

Diets, Exercise, and Well-Being

Consider the "trolley problem" in the context of health, exercise, and well-being. Observe a series of various diet options, exercise routines, and lifestyle changes. Have students consider the pros and cons of each of these choices, weighing these decisions and deciding on what outcomes work best for their lifestyle.

Cultural Iceberg

Use the following online tool, Exploring Your Cultural Iceberg, to get an understanding of your own visible and hidden cultural characteristics. How would you describe your cultural identity? Revisit this lesson through the lens of cultural identity. For example, how might these scenarios be different between people from different cultures based on how we perceive visible and hidden cultural characteristics?