No abstract

Technology applications can offer an accessible way for teachers to bring the real world into science classes. Using MapBox Studio, a free mapping software program, our cross-disciplinary student teams were able to visually conceptualize large datasets and see emerging trends for themselves, facilitating the research process while making student learning more active and engaged.

Dragons thrive in gaps between and beyond spatial boundaries. Can science help explain their existence? Did humans’ investigation of natural phenomena create bits and pieces of dragon lore across cultures? The researchers used a transdisciplinary lens to reveal data unique among extant dragon origin explanations, including fossil evidence and descriptions of Carboniferous-Period plants, dragon folklore descriptions and locations and geographic correlations between the fossils and folklore. The hypothesis is that early humans came across these fossils, constructed meaning for them contextualized by current knowledge of the natural world and created or enhanced dragon lore narratives.

A lthough transdisciplinarity has been in practice for decades, its use as a methodology in higher education is limited. In addition, the need to connect academe to the community outside its walls has never been more pronounced. Working within the gaps created between disciplinary boundaries gives researchers an opportunity to create new ways of understanding the common, yet complex problems of the world. In this article we explain how a group of student researchers, scholars, and other community members came together to create a transdisciplinary exhibit that explains how plant fossils and dragon folklore are connected worldwide. We provide evidence of how the creation and implementation of the exhibit facilitated learning across wide cross-sections of stakeholders and how the project continues to develop new avenues of inquiry.