Investigating interdisciplinary learning outcomes in a forensic science programme

Forensic science operates at the intersection of science and law and requires graduates who can integrate disciplinary knowledge while exercising critical judgement across complex investigative contexts. This study examines self-perceived interdisciplinary learning outcomes among undergraduate and postgraduate students in a university forensic science programme, using Biggs' Presage-Process-Product model as a pedagogical framework to contextualise how curriculum design and active learning processes may support interdisciplinary competence. Across six academic semesters from 2022 to 2024, 260 students completed an 18-item survey adapted from Lattuca, Knight, and Bergom measuring Interdisciplinary Skills, Reflective Behaviour, and Recognizing Disciplinary Perspectives on a five-point Likert scale. Students reported the highest ratings in Interdisciplinary Skills (M = 4.33), indicating confidence in integrating knowledge across scientific and legal domains. Lower ratings were observed for Reflective Behaviour (M = 3.89) and Recognizing Disciplinary Perspectives (M = 3.83), suggesting more moderate perceived development in metacognitive and epistemological dimensions of interdisciplinary learning. Item-level analysis further showed that students felt capable of synthesising knowledge across fields but were less confident in evaluating disciplinary strengths and limitations or identifying gaps in expert reasoning. These findings suggest that active and practice-based pedagogies are associated with high self-perceived disciplinary grounding and integration but require more explicit scaffolding to foster critical awareness, epistemological reflection, and metacognitive development. By mapping empirical measurements onto established interdisciplinary learning outcomes, this study provides evidence-informed directions for strengthening interdisciplinary pedagogy in applied forensic science education.