INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECTS
In response to the 2014 Strategic Plan’s call for increasing interdisciplinary-learning opportunities for our students and embedding intellectual inquiry into race-class-gender-sexuality and other axes of identity into the academic program, Phillips Academy has launched the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and placed it in partnership with the Tang Institute. In partnership with Interdisciplinary Department Chair David Fox, the Department and the Institute will support the following efforts in 2018 – 19.
Tang Fellows in Interdisciplinary Studies(Faculty members who are leading Tang Institute projects with connections to interdisciplinary studies)
The Data-Driven Classroom
Nicholas Zufelt, Instructor in Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, Tang Fellow
There is incredible interest and ability among our student body to use technology to create deeper connections to both their fellow classmates and other members of our community. Tang Fellow Nicholas Zufelt will work to nourish these connections between computer science and other disciplines through helping interested faculty members add computing elements to their curriculum, including tools such as data visualization and statistical modeling, simulation of social or scientific systems, discussions of ethics and technology, or developing digital learning tools specific to their classroom. This project will also include research into the pedagogy of project-based learning approaches, including both the development and assessment of interesting, real-world projects in any discipline.
Reading with and against the Grain: A Comparison of History Textbooks from the Pacific Rim
Hijoo Son, Instructor in History and Social Sciences, Tang Fellow
By examining how history textbooks across the Pacific Rim (including South Korea, Japan, China, and the U.S.) narrate history, students will read various contesting and contentious narratives that bring light to the ongoing debate on history writing and rewriting. To what extent can comparative reading of textbooks in translation as primary sources be helpful in cultivating global Andover students? How can such readings help us envisage a multiply-situated Asia, one that presents particular challenges in today’s geopolitical world as China reclaims its hegemony, Japan reignites debates about militarization, and a still-divided (post) Cold War Korea becomes a battleground again? Simply, what do Asian high school students learn vis-à-vis U.S. students in history textbooks?
The Rainbow at PA
Marisela Ramos, Instructor in History and Social Science, Tang Fellow
One of the challenges of creating a safe and accepting LGBTQ+ campus and community is that sexual orientation is not necessarily visible. Quite often, the sexual orientation of the members of our community is not something we can measure by looking around at its members. Instead, we have to rely upon the built landscape, whether that be through the presence of visual cues (a rainbow flag or a safe-zone sticker) or some other marker to signify the acceptance and expression of LGBTQ+ people and cultures. In her project, The Rainbow at PA: Making the Invisible Visible, Marisela Ramos will investigate and implement strategies for helping to make our campus one that visibly welcomes, represents, and embraces LGBTQ+ students and adults.
The following faculty members are Instructors in Interdisciplinary Studies who are offering Interdisciplinary courses and contributing to the development of the department.
Astrobiology: Life Among the Stars
Caroline Odden, Chair of Natural Sciences and Physics Department, Tang Fellow
Jerry Hagler, Instructor in Biology
Astrobiology: Life Among the Stars will embark on a journey to explore the field of astrobiology, the study of the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the universe, on and beyond planet Earth. The course will begin the exploration by studying the fundamentals of relevant sciences — physics, astronomy, chemistry, and biology — and will then apply these sciences to understand the potential requirements and limitations of life on Earth as well as on other planets and moons in our solar system. As students learn about historical and current efforts to detect life on these bodies, the class will consider objects resident in our own solar system, including Mars, the moons of Jupiter, the moons of Saturn, and other solar system bodies such as Ceres and Pluto. Next, students will expand their view to include other possible abodes of life outside of our solar system as discovered by modern astronomers and modern instrumentation (i.e., the Hubble and Kepler space telescopes). Finally, the course will examine the role of fictional alien biology on the human imagination through literature, film, and music.
Natural Causes: How Climate Wrote History
Marcelle Doheny, Instructor in History and Social Science
Jerry Hagler, Instructor in Biology
The impact of human activity on the behavior of the earth’s climate has become one of the overriding concerns of the modern world, making climate change the central environmental problem of our time. Anticipating the impact of climate change on modern civilization, however, is not an easy exercise. Past climate change can help us to understand it as a catalyst for change that humans were not aware of, and can then help us to decide the role humans have played in the current environmental situation. Through a series of case studies, this class will investigate how civilizations have been influenced by weather and climate change. Starting with a historical overview of broad changes in climate, students will investigate specific instances when weather has influenced the course of history. How, for example, did winter weather protect Russia from invasion by first Sweden, then Napoleonic France and Nazi Germany? The class will then expand its scope to examine the larger and longer-term influence of climate shifts on the course of regional civilizations such as the Maya in Central America, the Tang Dynasty in China, and the Harappan/Indus Valley civilization. The third group of case studies will examine the impact of global climate shifts on the interaction between civilizations on a continental scale. Examples could include the rise and spread of the Mongol civilization from central Asia to Eastern Europe and eastern Asia. The term will end with an examination of the possible consequences of climate change on the future course of modern civilization.
Math and Art Collaboration
Therese Zemlin, Instructor in Art
Sue Buckwalter, Instructor in Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science
How can mathematicians use art to create proofs and how can artists use math as a basis for concept and imagery? How can these connections help to clarify or develop both mathematical and artistic processes? Students in this class will be using math to generate designs and structures that will function as the starting point in the creation of unique and expressive works of art. Students can expect to complete three to four projects utilizing mathematical topics. The class will explore mathematical areas such as sequences, geometry, number theory, and transformations along with art studio processes such as painting, collage, folding 40 Return to Table of Contents (origami), drawing, and building with welded wire. On-campus field trips will include the Addison Gallery, the Knafel Map Collection, and the Peabody Institute.
Project-Based Statistics
Noureddine El Alam, Instructor in Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science
This is a community-based learning statistics course that will enable students to implement learned knowledge to work with communities. This curriculum-driven project contains a civic responsibility component that ties in with the concept of citizenship. Students will apply their knowledge immediately and beneficially as they “bring numbers to life” in collaboration with the PA community and local nonprofit organizations. For instance, students potentially would be able to collect, organize, interpret, analyze, and project data to help the Admissions Office, Dining Services, the Brace Center for Gender Studies, College Counseling Office, Archives and Special Collections, and other departments of interest at PA. Similarly, students can assist worthy causes in the wider community, working with those entities to tell stories with numbers.
The following Interdisciplinary Instructors will receive summer and professional development support for seed projects and research into the following areas:
Independent Schools, Institutional Whiteness, and Racial Socialization
Megan Paulson, Instructor in History and Social Science
When tasked with exploring their own identity, white students traditionally are familiar with only three options in regards to racial understanding: colorblind, ignorant, or racist. Megan Paulson believes that independent schools themselves face a similar conundrum. While most schools have diversity written into their mission statements, meaningful, historical, institutional self-examination through theoretical lenses such as Critical Race Theory are still needed to adequately construct and implement a shared vision. Schools cannot move forward to a shared vision without talking about and understanding the ways in which white identity politics shape climate and culture in the microcosm of the independent school and macrocosm of the U.S. and the world. In her project, Paulson will seek to hone a workable, research curriculum that explores whiteness (as well as non-white identity politics) and the ways in which it shapes our communities.
Andover Arts Awareness
Allen Grimm, Instructor in Theater and Dance
In affiliation with the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, this project will provide faculty with data and other resources that will enhance understanding of the important role that arts education plays in the health, wellness, and development of students. Arts education is collaborative and multidisciplinary in nature. The goal of the project is to use performing and visual art to create and share strategies to build empathy and cultural competency.
ABOUT THE TANG INSTITUTE
The Tang Institute helps to prepare students for today’s complex and interconnected world. Our faculty fellows are at the heart of our work; they collaborate with partners and students to develop innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Through an exchange of knowledge on campus and in education more broadly, we aim to explore, test, and introduce impactful learning experiences to students at Andover and beyond.
Within our purpose is a commitment to four emerging areas in education: learning to learn, hybrid and online learning, digital platforms and resources, and interdisciplinary initiatives.
