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Natural phenomena and scientific issues are intrinsically interdisciplinary. Students need to study a variety of academic disciplines in the natural sciences to explain a phenomenon or its related problems. Our goal in the current study was to examine the epistemological foundation of students' interdisciplinary understanding of carbon cycling using the supervised latent Dirichlet allocation model. The 454 students in this study were from a public high school and a public research university in Texas. The students' interdisciplinary understanding was shown in each of the constructed response items. In the relationship between the proportion of interdisciplinarity in students' answers to the constructed response items and students' scores on interdisciplinary understanding, all integrations of disciplines were statistically significant in explaining students' interdisciplinary understanding. Moreover, one particular integration set had advantages for obtaining a high score. We found that science coursework contributed to students' interdisciplinary understanding in different ways, and this interdisciplinary understanding was influenced by the number and type of science courses taken. Characterizing interdisciplinarity based on the clusters of science disciplines provided insights into how students synthesize their knowledge. The significance of this study lies in its potential impact on diverse curricular and instructional approaches in interdisciplinary science education.

Delays in identifying pediatric autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remain problematic despite directives aimed at improving early detection and intervention. Caregiver mental health concerns could be one explanation for this documented delay, necessitating further inquiry into mental health factors that predict delayed age of ASD diagnosis. This study investigated the impact of caregiver mental health concerns, diagnoses within the three-generation family history, and demographic data on delayed ASD diagnosis using a sample of caregivers of children with ASD (N = 63). Factors that predicted a delayed response between the time when a child was suspected of having developmental delay and when the child presented for a developmental diagnostic evaluation were examined. Mental health concerns were assessed by using standardized screening tools for traumatic childhood experiences, depression, and anxiety. The average time between suspicion of developmental delay and the child's presentation for a diagnostic evaluation was 36 months. Female gender of the child and family histories that contain intellectual disability, learning concerns, neurological concerns, or Tourette's syndrome predicted prolonged time to diagnostic evaluation. Adverse childhood events (ACEs) experienced by caregivers were identified as predictors of generalized anxiety disorder and depression. A positive correlation was found between caregiver generalized anxiety disorder and depression. Caregiver type, child gender, and child ethnicity predicted generalized anxiety but not depression. Health care providers should address identified predictors for delayed ASD diagnostic evaluations with caregivers upon initial suspicion of developmental delay. Practice recommendations for health care providers include assessing a three-generation family history and evaluating caregiver mental health concerns. Further, identifying protective factors to improve caregiver resiliency may reduce this disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]