The B.Sc in Interdisciplinary Science and Practice integrates concepts and knowledge from different science disciplines to be applied to real world problems through local and global perspectives. This program innovates the conventional science curriculum to entrench the principles and practice of interdisciplinarity, and includes a 15-credit degree and 20-credit Honours degree.  Students are asked to complete 8 interdisciplinary science courses and one minor within the Faculty of Science.  Honours students are also encouraged to complete a second minor within the Faculty with learning culminating in an academic capstone experience (group research project; research essay or individual research project). Program graduates will be well prepared to balance specialized technical knowledge with the transferable skills of critical thinking and problem solving, teamwork, and science communication.

The program was developed entirely around the notion of providing students with a unique learning experience. From the first year where students will participate in seminar courses which in part will orient them to university life and to their group research proposal on community or citizen science projects, students will feel engaged with their peers and connected to the community beyond the classroom. Students will be exposed to a broad base of scientific fundamentals and also learn about science communication, data and knowledge synthesis, and collaboration with diverse partners.

The program has adopted a learner-centered, experiential pedagogy to reach across disciplines and into the community.  The program will build on collaborations with Indigenous groups to introduce students to different “ways of knowing”. The program will also utilize “citizen science” and “peer-to-peer science” models as innovative means to demystify science through effective communication, to build bridges between our students and the community, and to engage students and community in forging new models of critical analysis. Throughout each course, students will navigate the theory and practice of interdisciplinarity to strengthen their capacity for collaboration, critical inquiry, and science communication. To showcase this, all students in their third year, will contribute to the proposal of an interdisciplinary project. Honours students will be asked to develop capstone projects to reflect their interests from an interdisciplinary perspective, as well as involve them in an aspect of academic-community engagement.