Facilitating Interdisciplinary Learning: Lessons from Project Kaleidoscope.

The article describes the higher education project Facilitating Interdisciplinary Learning (FIDL), sponsored by the interdisciplinary learning initiative Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL). This project is said to have involved dozens of U.S. institutions and to have been oriented toward courses that would improve learning outcomes among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. The authors say that the project dealt with difficulty in recruiting risk averse faculty members by mobilizing institutions for change, providing resources and incentives to implement courses, and integrating interdisciplinary work into existing department structures.