Before I learned what interdisciplinary was, I was having a hard time picking my major. I knew that I wanted to go to PA school, but there was no major I could find that would get me all the prerequisite classes needed for admission into most PA programs. When my advisor this past fall suggested to look into interdisciplinary, it completely changed my course of education for the better. The fact that interdisciplinary would allow me to create a contract and take the classes that are necessary for what I want to do was amazing. Interdisciplinary has already improved my education, as I will be able to get all my PA prerequisites done in the time I will be getting my undergraduate degree, which was simply unattainable under any other major. I am enjoying interdisciplinary so far, as I am taking classes that actually interest me. In Gregorian’s article, Colleges Should Reconstruct the Unity of Knowledge, he writes, “Colleges are becoming academic superstores, vast collections of courses, stacked up like sinks and lumber for do-it-yourselfers to try to assemble on their own into a meaningful whole”. He means it in a negative way, that colleges are just making it easy for students to memorize their way through college without gaining actual knowledge. Interdisciplinary is a way that is allowing me to actually take interest in the content I am studying, and I am able to focused more on the methods of learning that will work for me. Essentially what I am trying to do with the contract that I created is make it so each field I am studying becomes morphed into one, as Nissani put it in Ten Cheers for Interdisciplinarity, “interdisciplinary education merges components of two or more disciplines in a single program of instruction”. I am currently taking classes from completely different majors, and yet I am finding ways to incorporate the content from each and connect them, which is definitely an accomplishment, and I am looking forward to continue building my knowledge and furthering my education through interdisciplinary.
0 Comments
This week, I read four readings regarding interdisciplinarity. The first one I read was The BIG Terms, which was able to give me a general understanding of the terms and vocabulary used to understand interdisciplinary studies and those similar. The second reading, A Metaphor For Understanding Interdisciplinarity, helped me understand the idea of interdisciplinarity better. I knew what it was from the definition given in The BIG Terms but now I have a stronger understanding through the metaphor of fruits. I learned that it doesn’t just refer to the the number of fields of knowledge incorporated, but it also refers to the how closely related the fields of knowledge are as well. The third reading, Concepts For Doing Interdisciplinary, explained two concepts, which will be helpful to me when I face a problem working in the interdisciplinary field. It explained the concept of ‘drilling down’, which means taking my problem and breaking into smaller parts. This will allow me to solve my problem in steps rather than all at once, making it less stressful and easier to understand. The other concept in the reading was ‘setting in context’, which taught me that sometimes instead of single out my problem, I need to look at it compared to the bigger picture. The last reading, Content, Methods, Epistemologies, explained the aspects that make up disciplines. These were content, methods and epistemologies. I was familiar with content, methods but I was introduced to the term epistemologies, which ties together both content and methods. These 4 readings were really useful on their own, as I learned and took away important information from each of them. But they were also related, making each reading stronger. They were all able to enhance the understanding of Interdisciplinarity, what it is, the parts that make up it, and how to use it in the real world.
Pre Physician Assistant Studies
The title of my program is pre physician assistant studies, designed for a bachelor’s degree of science in interdisciplinary studies. The program is a compilation of courses that can be found in the prerequisite lists in a majority of physician assistant programs. After graduating with my bachelor’s degree I want to attend a physician assistant program. The reason I decided to create my own pre physician assistant program was due to the fact that no other major is designed for the courses I need as prerequisite for PA school. The prerequisites for physician assistant programs are a mix of biology, chemistry, health, and psychology courses. Finding a major here at Plymouth State University that includes all the prerequisites I needed, was difficult. Most majors currently have some of the classes I would need but not all, and they would also have many classes that wouldn’t be beneficial to my focus of study. Creating my own major has allowed me to take the courses that will benefit me in the best way possible, while meeting the correct criteria for physician assistant programs. Human Anatomy & Physiology I&II are essential to my major, as it will provide a baseline of knowledge of the cells, tissues, bones, muscles, organ systems that make up the human body and how they work together to allow the human body to function. Human Anatomy & Physiology Laboratory I&II are the labs that go hand in hand with human anatomy and physiology I and II, which will allow a further understanding of the content that I will be learning in lecture. General Chemistry I is an important part of my major because I need to have a baseline of knowledge of reactions that occur in the human body, in order to take more advanced chemistry classes. General Chemistry II gets more in depth on the reactions seen in the human body and the molecules and other elements found in the body, and will also provide me with knowledge needed for biochemistry and organic chemistry. Microbiology is included in my contract because it will be beneficial when working with humans, as this class studies the functions of microorganisms and bacterias found in the body. Biochemistry is important as it studies chemical compounds that are found in living things, including the human body, and the reactions these chemical compounds go through. Organic Chemistry I Organic chemistry focuses on organic compounds, which can be found in the human body, and also in pharmaceuticals, which will help give me an understanding of the makeup of the drugs prescribed to patients and how they will react with the compounds in their body. Kinesiology is a course that provides an in depth understanding of the joints in the body and the way in which the move when force acts upon them. Medical Sales: Lower Extremity Orthopedics studies the bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles of the lower extremities. It focuses on common injuries to the lower extremities, how they are caused and also how to repair the injured joint or bone. Social Psychology is a course that will be helpful when working with patients, as patient contact is a big part of being a physician assistant and having a background of the way people think and interact with each other will be beneficial to my job. Abnormal Psychology is also an important class to take for the profession I will be in because I will learn about diagnosis and treatments of mental illness. This information will come to use as I will be able to have baseline knowledge of recognizing disorders and understanding which treatments are available to my patients. Epidemiology & Evidence Based Medicine is added to my contract due to the fact that it focuses on diseases, and how they are treated, specifically based on evidence. A large part of being a physician assistant is diagnosing and treating patients, this course discusses the history of disease and the process of using evidence based medicine. Applied Nutrition for Healthy Living goes in depth to discuss how nutrition can benefit human health and prevent diseases and offers information on healthy eating and a basic knowledge of how our body digests and uses the food we put into our body. Interdisciplinary studies can be defined as having knowledge in more than one academic subject area. The program I have created is an example of an interdisciplinary study, as it combines biology, chemistry, health and psychology courses. As a physician assistant I will be diagnosing and treating illness, performing patient assessments, assisting in surgery, and other assigned tasks. The classes I have chosen to put in my contract all offer knowledge that will be helpful to me when studying in physician assistant school. I used several physician assistant programs prerequisites to help build my contract and to ensure that I will be ready to apply to physician assistant school after completing my bachelors degree. |