SCUPI

On April 8th, to enhance the construction of grassroots teaching organizations and the management of teaching and administrative styles, Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute (SCUPI) held a teaching seminar with the theme of “Multi-Disciplinary Undergraduate STEM Integrated Curriculum in a Research-based Environment”. Dr. Mushe Loan, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. TsunZee Mai, and over twenty faculty and staff members jointly discussed the issue of innovatively conducting grassroots teaching in the context of multi-disciplinary integration.

Dr. Mushe Loan believes that in the 21st century, the global market with continuous development of social science and technology not only requires students to master professional knowledge, but also demands that they possess multidisciplinary and even interdisciplinary knowledge and skills to cope with the ever-changing market. In the traditional teaching method known as the “silo methods”, each discipline is isolated, and students can only learn passively, remaining in an “ivory tower” detached from reality. As a result, students will be trapped in the superficial pursuit of grades rather than the actual improvement of creativity and practical ability.

Therefore, Dr. Mushe Loan proposed: Learn like a doctor, think like a doctor, viewing students’ learning as a complex organism, organically connecting various disciplines, and stimulating students’ ability to integrate cross-disciplinary comprehensive information. Under the guidance of this method, the STEM teaching model combines multiple disciplines into a cohesive learning experience. By showing students how different knowledge domains are interconnected, it enables students to have a more comprehensive and profound understanding of concepts, establish critical thinking, and cultivate practical problem-solving abilities.

Dr. Mushe Loan, through teaching examples, took mathematics, physics and engineering applications as three subjects to further explain the application principles of the STEM model. Firstly, real-world problems should be used as the basis for the integration of different subjects, and the learning sequence of different subjects should be scientifically arranged. On this basis, interdisciplinary modules should be designed to solve common problems with the three subjects. Finally, a student-centered teaching method and a PBL framework for solving real-world problems should be set up. Teachers act as guides, breaking the ivory tower effect through open-ended questions and student-driven exploration.

Dr. Mushe Loan concluded by saying that perhaps it is not easy to abandon old thinking habits, but development and change over time are achieved precisely through such struggles. At the end of the seminar, Dr. TsunZee Mai and other faculty members had a lively discussion with Dr. Mushe Loan on the problems arising from the adoption of interdisciplinary teaching methods in actual teaching.

The seminar concluded successfully in a pleasant atmosphere. This seminar provided beneficial thoughts and discussions for the SCUPI to promote its own teaching reform and explore and innovate interdisciplinary teaching models.