Integrative Learning
Integrative learning asks students to connect skills and knowledge from multiple sources and experiences, apply theory to practice in various settings, utilize diverse and even contradictory points of view, and understand issues and positions contextually.
MSU’s approach to general education—the Integrative Studies courses— takes seriously the challenge of helping students develop the skills and abilities that promote integrative thinking. Courses in humanities, social sciences, and biological and physical sciences integrate subject matter within those disciplines and require students to practice different “ways of knowing” across the disciplines.
Example of Integrative Learning at MSU
Michigan State University’s Integrative Studies program is an approach to general education courses that integrates multiple modes of understanding, while introducing undergraduate students to college-level work and important new ways of thinking.
Courses in the Integrative Studies program help students to
- Become more familiar with ways of knowing in the arts and humanities, biological and physical sciences, and social sciences.
- Develop a range of intellectual abilities, including critical thinking and logical argument.
- Become more knowledgeable about other times, places, and cultures, as well as key ideas and issues in human experience.
- Learn more about the role of scientific method in developing a more objective understanding of the natural and social worlds.
- Appreciate the role of knowledge, values, and ethics in understanding human behavior and solving social problems.
- Recognize the responsibilities and opportunities associated with citizenship in a democratic society and an increasingly interconnected, interdependent world.
