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Abstract
The dissertation includes three studies that all contribute to the understanding of interdisciplinary science education. The first chapter offers an overview of the context of these studies. Chapters 2-4 present the three studies approaching interdisciplinary science education from a cognitive, instructional, and assessment perspectives, respectively. In Chapter 2, a clarification and revision process of a cognitive framework for interdisciplinary understanding (IU) is presented. The framework examines four critical aspects of IU: integration, translation, transfer, and transformation. In Chapter 3, a textbook analysis of a crosscutting concept, osmotic pressure, shows the inconsistency of definitions and interpretations across science disciplines. The findings reveal challenges and suggest possible remedies in coordinating science curricula to achieve interdisciplinary integration and translation. In Chapter 4, the cognitive framework proposed in Chapter 2 is applied to construct interdisciplinary science assessment items on the topic of energy. The last chapter summarizes the findings of the three studies and elaborates on the implications for the overall work of interdisciplinary science education.