Big history and the secondary classroom: a twenty-first century approach to interdsciplinarity

Big History poses big questions addressing big issues like 'How did we get here? Where are we going?' and it encourages exploration of deep philosophical questions about the meaning of life and the nature of the cosmos. Answering these questions pushes teachers and students to move beyond the confines of traditional disciplinary boundaries to examine the interconnections between knowledge, ideas, and phenomena. Does this make Big History iterdisciplinary? Does Big History move beyond the interconnection of disciplinary knowledge to transcend these boundaries? Harnessing the expenences of Australian secondary Big History teachers, this paper explores the practical nature and definition(s) of the twenty-first century curriculum, learners, and iterdisciplinarity in the secondary context. Through the lens of a pedagogical vehicle to equip future generations with the skills they need to live responsibly and effectively in an interconnected global community.