Continuity of Knowledge: Predisciplinarity and Interdisciplinarity in Science Education

The article examines the continuity of non-disciplinary experience, predisciplinary exploration, disciplinary teaching of the subjects, and the facilitation of interdisciplinary cooperation and learning. My argument circles the question of what it implies for science students to explore phenomena in their predisciplinary appearance. I discuss two efforts that both have distinct predisciplinary features: world-oriented education and phenomenon-based science education. The educational intention of predisciplinarity is to show the school subjects’ origin in the world, and to establish a world-related foundation for interdisciplinary work. Interdisciplinary cooperation can be improved by allowing students and teachers to start in the world before it is transformed into subjects. I describe four stages of phenomenological inquiry with a predisciplinary intention: sensing with an open mind, choosing a phenomenon, facilitating disciplinary teaching, and facilitating interdisciplinary teaching. Predisciplinary teaching requires the science educator broad knowledge, a curious mind, and an embodied experience of unfolding the teaching potential of the place.