Providing opportunities for interdisciplinary learning may not be enough—students’ mindsets matter

From vaccinating the globe to climate change to social inequality, we face numerous critical and complex problems. Yet solving such problems is too big a task for anyone field to tackle and instead requires that we look at these issues through multiple lenses. For example, although medical science has developed vaccines for COVID-19, we must also leverage what we know about logistics and human behaviour to deliver them rapidly and convince people to accept them. In efforts to create our future problem-solvers, colleges and universities offer many excellent opportunities for students to explore a diversity of fields, but merely providing those opportunities may not be enough.

What enables students to see interdisciplinary connections that bridge diverse fields? One key factor involves their mindset about how interests come to be. Viewing interests as developable—what my colleagues and I call a growth mindset of interest—can be critical to broadening one’s interests to new and different fields. In turn, this can lead students to integrate that new knowledge with their existing interests. By contrast, a fixed mindset of interest—the belief that interests are relatively set and unchanging—may cause students to miss important connections among fields, limiting their ability to problem-solve. That is, they may confine themselves to only a few areas of knowledge without considering how other fields may complement or enhance that knowledge. For them, their interests have already been ‘found,’ so there is no use in exploring other areas.

How does a growth mindset of interest spark interdisciplinary thinking? My earlier research, conducted with Carol Dweck and Greg Walton of Stanford University, showed that students who view interests as developed are more open to topics outside of their existing interests, as compared to those who believe that interests are fixed. In a new set of studies, published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, my team found that the openness caused by a growth mindset of interest increases people’s tendency to see connections between their existing interests and other knowledge areas, leading to better interdisciplinary ideas as compared to those with a fixed mindset.

For example, in one study we recruited undergraduates who had a pre-existing interest in either the arts or the sciences. To test their interdisciplinary thinking, we then asked them to create novel academic majors by combining two or more existing programs offered at their university and to provide a rationale for each of their ideas. We found that those with a growth mindset were more likely to generate novel majors that combined programs across the arts and sciences—like computational linguistics. By contrast, those with a fixed mindset tended to generate ideas that combined programs from within only one of the two areas—like computational chemistry. Furthermore, those with a growth mindset generated ideas that were independently judged to be better overall.

Although many colleges and universities promote interdisciplinarity, it may be only the first step in creating interdisciplinary thinkers. In addition to offering traditional programs that allow students to specialise, such schools provide opportunities to bridge those fields with others. For example, NUS recently launched its College of Humanities and Sciences, where students will experience more interdisciplinary learning and develop competencies across seemingly disparate fields. Other schools have launched their own interdisciplinary-major or double-degree programs, enabling students to learn more from outside of their primary field and to explore their connections, without losing the depth of expertise in their chosen major. The resources are there, but perhaps only students with a growth mindset will take advantage of those critical opportunities. Furthermore, our research shows that, even in schools where interdisciplinary programs abound, many students still hold a fixed mindset, potentially preventing them from pursuing those opportunities.

If a growth mindset of interest is important for interdisciplinary education, can it be cultivated? Like other beliefs people hold, mindsets can change. Colleges and universities can promote a culture where, early on, students come to understand that interests can be developed and are not fixed. This can be communicated by creating a campus culture where the norm is to value and explore ideas from a variety of academic disciplines and search for connections among them. For example, schools can admit student bodies with diverse interests, assign projects that require drawing from multiple disciplines, and hire faculty whose research and teaching punctuate the importance of interdisciplinarity. For students with a fixed mindset, a curriculum that requires interdisciplinarity may disconfirm their preconceived notion about the potential to grow new interests. Along with providing interdisciplinary opportunities, such school contexts can help a growth mindset take root.

Our research findings also have important implications for life after graduation and the global challenges that loom on the horizon. In economies disrupted by the pandemic, for instance, many people have been forced out of their jobs. Given their greater openness to new fields, those with a growth mindset of interest may find it easier to transition to a new job or industry. For example, a marketing graduate who develops an interest in data science could pursue a research role in a data science firm, instead of limiting themselves to scarce marketing positions. The potential opportunities are boundless. Moreover, they may also integrate their marketing knowledge into their new job in creative and useful ways. Such a career shift may never cross the mind of someone with a fixed mindset, thereby limiting their perceived employment opportunities.

Likewise, organisations may benefit from recruiting graduates with a growth mindset of interest. Those people may be more likely to generate innovative ideas, or be more willing to learn skills that are critical to ongoing projects. This is because viewing interests as developed means that even a topic that initially seems mundane could become quite interesting once one delves deeper. Furthermore, in the pursuit of new knowledge and skills, setbacks and difficulties would be seen as part of the developmental process, rather than a signal that the subject matter is not interesting.

As our world becomes more complex and interconnected, innovations arising from out-of-the-box problem-solving are increasingly needed. Approaching these problems with a growth mindset of interest may help students see those connections and develop effective, interdisciplinary solutions that will change the world.