Biology as an Interdisciplinary Subject: Bridging Disciplines for a Deeper Understanding of Life

Abstract

Biological science has always been portrayed as an interdisciplinary subject. Essentially, botany, zoology, and microbiology deal with all the life forms, while biochemistry relates to all the chemical reactions in living beings. Biophysics and biostatistics have always been a part of biological assays and investigations. From school education to higher studies, currently, biology is a part of the STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education system and curriculum. Although they are distinct, these are related technical disciplines. The term is typically used in the context of education policy or curriculum choices in schools and colleges. The STEM curriculum with experiential learning and appropriate content surely increases students' competency levels. Nowadays, the relation of biological sciences with social, behavioural or neurosciences has also been well established and studied. With the advent of technology, biology was redefined, and new areas of computational biology emerged. Moreover, AI has further elevated the levels and created a lot more sub- branches. Though all these areas of interdisciplinary research were growing in specific research fields, the interdisciplinary nature of the subject is yet to be established in the education system. With the advent of new educational policies such as NEP 2020 in India, these gaps might be filled, and this can lead to a change in students’ overall learning and research experience for lifelong learning.