Incorporating Immunology into the Undergraduate Curriculum to Promote Interdisciplinary Science Education

Abstract The national call for undergraduate education reform in the Vision and Change report identified understanding the importance of interdisciplinary science as a key competency; one that is critical for career success and responding to the evolving needs of the STEM workforce. Immunology provides an ideal platform to foster an appreciation of the interrelationships between multiple disciplines in the natural sciences. Interdisciplinary thinking can be fostered by creating educational interventions that relate concepts in immunology with foundational concepts in other sciences and is critical to tackle current societal challenges, such as the effect of global climate change on emerging infectious diseases and the need for new strategies to combat these threats. Although the discipline of immunology integrates easily with other biological fields such as microbiology and physiology, incorporating interdisciplinary thinking into broad educational practice requires intention and collaboration. In this breakout session, we will introduce a conceptual framework that: i) identifies interdisciplinary immunology focused learning outcomes; and ii) demonstrates classroom strategies to address these outcomes. Participants will engage in an active discussion to better understand ways in which Immunology education can be refocused to enhance interdisciplinary learning. The goal of the session is to empower educators by providing a conceptual framework that will enable them to mindfully and intentionally incorporate backward design into their pedagogy to teach interdisciplinary science using immunological topics. Supported by grant from NSF (#2120806)