Where is the Interdisciplinarity? Insights of interdisciplinary STEM Students'

In Europe, both disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches are employed in teaching Computer Science and other STEM subjects at the secondary level. In addition to acquiring disciplinary skills, students also have the opportunity to develop interdisciplinary skills, often referred to as 21st-century or future skills, that connect various STEM fields. However, there is limited knowledge about how students perceive interconnections between STEM fields after participating in one of the new interdisciplinary K-12 courses. Therefore, this study aims to assess, through open-ended questions, the perspectives of students enrolled in interdisciplinary subjects, specifically Informatics, Mathematics, and Physics (IMP), regarding the interconnections between these three subjects. A total of N = 371 (71% male, 26% female, 3% other; average age: M = 16.26, SD = 3.70 years) 10th-grade IMP students participated in the study. Open-ended questions about the interconnections of the three subjects involved were analyzed using qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. The findings reveal that students' perceptions of interconnections align with the educational objectives of the IMP curriculum. Interconnections were identified in various topics, including simulation and numerical analysis for all three subjects, cryptography and logic for computer science and mathematics, and electrical engineering for computer science and physics. This study contributes to the understanding of how students perceive interdisciplinary connections in STEM subjects. The results are discussed within the context of existing research in this article, highlighting the importance of fostering interdisciplinary skills in secondary education.