Influence of Interdisciplinary Teaching System on Interdisciplinary Competence of Engineering Graduate Students: Analysis of Mediating Effects of Interdisciplinary Identity

Abstract

Background Interdisciplinary graduate education is not only an urgent need for scientific and technological innovation toward socioeconomic development but also aligns with the law of the growth of high-level innovative talents. It has now become an important trend in the reform of global graduate education. The transformation has stimulated some forms of interdisciplinary experiences, including critical thinking awareness, interdisciplinary team teaching, etc. However, little is known about the core characteristics that shape interdisciplinary competence and internal effect mechanisms.Purpose/Hypothesis This study seeks to explore how the interdisciplinary teaching system relates to the interdisciplinary competence of engineering graduates. We specifically examine the connections within the interdisciplinary teaching system, including comprehensive curriculum emphasis, student-centered instructional practices, and interdisciplinary competence. Also, we explore the internal effect mechanisms by introducing the theory of identity to discuss the mediating effects of interdisciplinary identity and try to figure out how students describe themselves and are positioned by others in the role of being an interdisciplinary learner. And we further explore the mediating effects of the three dimensions of interdisciplinary identity: interest, recognition, and performance. Design/MethodThis study uses a survey sample of 310 engineering graduate students in 3 High-level Research Universities in China. Using linear modeling, we investigate the relationships among interdisciplinary teaching system on graduates' interdisciplinary competence and explore the mediating effects of interdisciplinary identity. ResultsThis study finds that: (1) Student-centered instructional practices, as well as comprehensive curriculum emphasis, have a significant role in promoting the interdisciplinarity of engineering graduate students. And Student-centered teaching methods have a more significant effect on improving students' interdisciplinary ability than comprehensive curriculum emphasis. (2) The recognition of interdisciplinary identity plays a partially mediating role between the interdisciplinary teaching system and interdisciplinary competence, and the performance dimension has the strongest mediating effect. (3) Studentcentered instructional practices have a stronger impact than comprehensive curriculum emphasis on engineering students' interdisciplinary identity, especially on the interest dimension. ConclusionsThis study emphasizes the crucial role of interdisciplinary identity in linking external teaching with internal competence and seeks to identify effective and practical approaches for cultivating interdisciplinary identity. Based on the above, this paper suggests that, in the practice of interdisciplinary education reform, the design of student-centered teaching methods should be strengthened, and the construction of interdisciplinary identity of engineering graduate students should be continuously stimulated through interest stimula...