Revista Romaneasca pentru Educatie

Multidimensionala
Romanian Journal for Multidimensional Education
ISSN: 2066 – 7329 (print), ISSN: 2067 – 9270
(electronic)
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EconPapers, Socionet, Ulrich Pro Quest, Cabell, SSRN,
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TRANSDISCIPLINARITY AND
COMMUNICATIVE ACTION IN
MULTIDIMENSIONAL EDUCATION.
EDITORIAL

Otilia CLIPA

Revista Romaneasca pentru Educatie Multidimensionala,

2014, Volume 6, Issue 2, December, pp. 9-13

The online version of this article can be found at:

http://revistaromaneasca.ro

Published by:

Lumen Publishing House

On behalf of:

Lumen Research Center in Social and Humanistic Sciences

 Transdisciplinarity and Communicative Action in Multidimensional (...)
Otilia CLIPA

Transdisciplinarity and Communicative Action in

Multidimensional Education. Editorial

Otilia CLIPA1
Abstract
The main objective of this editorial is the underlying of the transdisciplinary
approach and the specific ways of putting into practice the interdisciplinary and
communicative action in education. In order to do this we tried to do radiography of
the theoretic characteristics as they are showed in the documents and the researches
from the studied literature. The benchmarks which underlie the investigative
intercession prove that the transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary are not only
theoretical concepts, but also domains to which the practitioners from the educational
area found viable applications.

Keywords:
Transdisciplinary, interdisciplinary, communicative action, multidimensional
education

1Associate Professor PhD, Faculty of Science of Education, “Stefan cel Mare”

University, email: otiliac@usv.ro.

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Revista Românească pentru
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The matter of interdisciplinary approaches in education is not a

new one, but it always causes depth analysis regarding the ways in which
it could be applied in the teaching process. The reform of educational
contents is a very important point of any innovation and the most
dynamic part of the training curriculum. The traditions of the
interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary have deep roots over time. Thus,
the trend toward unity in knowledge is not new but it can be found in
the depths of time within the possibilities of knowledge through myths
or ancient philosophers’ writings. Greek Sophists and Roman
rhetoricians emphasized the beauty and necessity of synthetic and global
approaches on knowledge. As scientific progress is achieved through
training, concern for unity awakens a desire to improve the regrouping
on very small subunits of knowledge fields. Education’s interdisciplinary
is understood as an education which should be the image of reality unity,
to form a unified research methodology of this reality and develop an
integrative thinking, unified, systemic. Cognitive accumulations of
various knowledge fields, as well as modern education sources
multiplying, require modern strategies for contents sizing and
structuring. Data acquired in a holistic manner this easily connected with
previous knowledge and can also recall much faster (Caine and Caine,
1997).
There is compelled a new way of information selection, the
depletion as well as other structuring, hierarchy, creation and practice
criteria, as suitable as possible to the educational reality and objectives
regarding the achievement of an integrative, holistic vision to the
students. School should exceed the level at which teaching is focused on
individual subjects and their isolated data as „the boundaries among
disciplines and subject area are artificial and limit students access to
broader meaning in life (Russell and Zembylas, 2007, p. 288). An
education divided strictly on subjects that have specific objectives and
methods, is in contradiction with the pupil’s natural actions that tends to
explore reality as a whole. Correlation principle appears as a necessity in
the educational process. This supports curricula drawing and activities
planning; thus ensuring a certain order, a link between knowledge that
highlights world in its diversity.
Education’s philosophy highlights the heuristic force of inter and
trans-disciplinarity. It also suggests the difficulties faced. The terms
differences of the correlated subjects must be surpassed. It is necessary

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 Transdisciplinarity and Communicative Action in Multidimensional (...)
Otilia CLIPA

for the different conceptions specific to various subjects, their logic,

systems and even types of sentences to be brought together.
Interdisciplinary connections represent an integrated didactical approach,
where knowledge, contents and learning skills are being connected
horizontally and vertically (Sicherl-Kafol, B. & Denac, O, 2010, p. 4696).
L. D’Hainaut asserts that the subjects could be approached by general
concepts and principles and that there are “continuum areas” between
them (L. D’Hainaut, coord. 1981, p. 212). The famous pedagogue
distinguishes the following perspectives in approaching the contents:
- the interdisciplinary perspective – starting from subjects as a
juncture for curricula drawing (it has the advantage that gives to
the student and the teacher a structure that takes into account the
hierarchy of prior enhanced knowledge),
- the multidisciplinary perspective or thematic – many autonomous
subjects approach a theme or a situation, an issue (used for many
educational levels and has the advantage that it structures the
subject based on the specific matter/interest),
- the interdisciplinary perspective – educational system
management so as to give to students the opportunity to
familiarize to general principles or the ones oriented in as various
contexts as possible,
- trans-disciplinary perspective – has as an entry point the student’s
intellectual, affective, psychomotor steps and not the subjects’
ones. In this case the trainer will be interested in the education of
student's personality in its entirety and not just storage of
information.
The author notes the existence of several types of horizontal
transdisciplinary (the student is put through similar issues passing
through specific disciplines), vertical transdisciplinary (practicing
different attitudes or approaches within the subjects considered
independent) and transdisciplinary themes (to search for occasions,
themes with which the student could have its own experiences).
Regarding this issue Professor G. Văideanu asserted that trans-
disciplinary perspective involves interplay of several subjects and the
coordination of the susceptible research is likely to lead to the formation
of some subjects or a new field.
Subjects’ learning and the interdisciplinary learning will coexist,
each with its functions. Moreover, even important representatives of

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contemporary pedagogy (J. Bruner, L. D’Hainaut) believe that school

subjects have their own importance in the organization of knowledge
and their application. "Interdisciplinarity does not cancel subjects" (G.
Văideanu), it just matches them. Integrated content models are widely
recognized as the most representative teaching innovations. Susan Drake
believes that transdisciplinarity is more complex than fusion information,
multidisciplinary treatment, deepening from the perspective of several
subjects of a topic or even the interdisciplinarity (Drake, 2012, p. 15).
Susan Drake asserts that transdisciplinarity is more complex than
information fusion, multidisciplinary treatment, deepening the
perspective of several disciplines of a subject or even interdisciplinarity
(Drake, 2012, p. 15).
This integration supports the idea of approaching in order to
create in addition to information and training, meaningful formation of
the child's personality. The authors: M. Corrigan, D. Grouve and P.
Vincent (2011) noted that multi-dimensional education tends to form the
4 C’s: climate, curriculum, character and school community. This training
contributes greatly to achieving the academical goals and to engage in a
holistic approach to education and helps in understanding of knowledge
and to their integration in real life. These inter and multidisciplinary
approaches could increase the education quality and the learning and
understanding level of the trainees throughout their entire lives.

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*** (1980). Interdisciplinaritatea în ştiinţa contemporană. Bucuresti: Editura

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Corrigan, M., Grouve, D., & Vincent, P. (2011). Multi-Dimensional
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