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NEW REPORT FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE: BRANCHES FROM THE SAME TREE

May 07, 2018 College of Arts and Humanities

Report urges development and evaluation of approaches that integrate STEMM fields with arts and humanities in higher education.

By The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine

"WASHINGTON --  An emerging body of evidence suggests that integrating STEMM fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine) with the humanities and arts in higher education is associated with positive learning outcomes that may help students enter the workforce, live enriched lives, and become active and informed citizens, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Colleges and universities should consider developing, implementing, and evaluating programs that integrate these fields, said the committee that conducted the study and wrote the report.

"The report examines an important trend in higher education: programs that intentionally seek to bridge the knowledge and types of inquiry from multiple disciplines – the humanities, arts, sciences, engineering, technology, mathematics, and medicine – within a single course or program of study. Professors in these programs help students make connections among these disciplines in an effort to enrich and improve learning. The movement toward integration is occurring in part as a response to a higher education system that has become increasingly specialized and isolated by discipline. The National Academies were asked to examine evidence on the outcomes of integrative approaches for undergraduate and graduate students. The report also includes a compendium of more than 200 integrated programs and courses at universities and colleges across the U.S."

Read the full release at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.