Testing The Field: Transdisciplinary Learning in an Unfamiliar Environment

Kelly, RMC, Carpenter, A, Illingworth, S and Hall, A (2018) Testing The Field: Transdisciplinary Learning in an Unfamiliar Environment. In: HEA STEM Conference 2018: Creativity in Teaching, Learning and Student Engagement, 31 January 2018 - 01 February 2018, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Testing the Field was a transdisciplinary field trip, designed to bring together students from both the School of Art and Faculty of Science and Engineering. "[The project] is the second of hopefully many art/science pedagogic research experiments" says Annie Carpenter, associate lecturer at Manchester School of Art and founder of the project. "We hope to form an established and ongoing collaboration between the faculties and explore the mechanics of a cross-faculty unit being incorporated into the regular curriculum. Testing the Field hopes to build on the successes and failures encountered." Testing the Field consisted of a trip to Middlewood Ecological Trust with 20 students from across the two faculties. The students took part in workshops in poetry, experimental sound recording, and ikebana, amongst others. Rachel Kelly and Sam Illingworth were invited along by Annie Carpenter to run workshops using the Japanese practices of Ikebana and Haiku to explore interdisciplinary collaboration and to promote new learning discussion and reflection amongst staff and students.