Ground Up Interdisciplinarity: A Multifaceted Pedagogical Approach to Business Studies for College Freshmen

By Professor Ali Alavi 

The integration of interdisciplinarity in learning continues to generate a great deal of interest in academia. Educators are innovating experiential learning activities for their students to explore topics in their programs of study in larger, richer, and multifaceted contexts, thereby accomplishing the learning outcomes of their courses more effectively while allowing them to appreciate the interconnectivity of their major courses and general studies.  

As a business faculty, I have been using an interdisciplinary approach in Introduction to Business for several years and have come to realize its vast potential, not only for enhancing the learning experience for my students but in fostering enthusiasm and a sense of inquiry beyond the course objectives in them.  

The idea of piloting an interdisciplinary project in my Introduction to Business classes initially crossed my mind during a guided tour at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. At the time, I was participating in the 2016 Montgomery College Smithsonian Faculty Fellowship Program (SFF). Our cohort had congregated on the third floor of the gallery, a few steps away from Roger Shimomura’s illustrious self-portrait, Shimomura Crossing the Delaware. While discussing the painting and the multitude of messages it communicated, the idea of including this experience as part of my classes developed in my mind. Shimomura’s work depicts immigration as a major determinant of the demographics of the U.S. population. It also signifies the challenges of finding one’s place in one’s adopted home. Thus, it serves as an excellent prompt for discussions related to diversity and inclusion in the context of human resource management, the role of the government in ensuring equal employment opportunities, and the challenges and rewards of managing a diverse workforce. 

In September 2016, while still participating in the SFF program, I piloted the National Portrait Gallery Assignment in my Introduction to Business classes. Having visited the gallery, the students in groups of three or four prepared and delivered informative and inspiring presentations based on the lives, work, and contributions of renowned entrepreneurs, leaders, inventors, artists, etc. whose portraits were exhibited in the gallery, discussing the selected topics in multidisciplinary contexts.  

Students focused their projects on prominent individuals featured in the National Portrait Gallery, including Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk, and Bill Gates. One of my favorite presentations was on Frida Kahlo, the renowned Mexican artist whose work, political activism, and controversial lifestyle had brought her worldwide fame. Using Kahlo’s sensational life story, Hollywood created a tremendously successful motion picture in the early 2000s. In addition, images of her popular work of art are used in products such as clothes and accessories, posters, banners, and marketing materials, making Frida Kahlo’s legacy a great example for discussions related to celebrity marketing, piracy, and copyright violations.   

 I also found the presentation on the life and career of entrepreneur, philanthropist, social and political activist, and the first female self-made millionaire in America, Madam C.J Walker, to be especially inspiring. She embodied the characteristics of the classic, self-made entrepreneur that we discuss in detail in the course, providing students with not only an excellent example of what they learn in class but also a source of inspiration for their academic and professional endeavors.    

Rich with real-life examples and inspirational anecdotes, the presentations provided historical context for the topics and concepts the students learned in the course and allowed them to cross-reference information from other academic disciplines, particularly the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The positive outcome of the piloted project encouraged me to keep the National Portrait Gallery Assignment on my syllabus for several semesters.   

In 2023, I had the privilege of participating in the MC-Smithsonian Faculty Fellowship Program for a second time. This time, I decided to incorporate the Entertainment Nation exhibit at the National Museum of American History to develop another interdisciplinary project for my Fall 2023 Introduction to Business classes.  

My goal was to develop a unique and exciting experiential learning activity that would engage my students in topics related to the evolution of the entertainment industry. I also intended to create an opportunity for them to learn about the role of the entertainment industry in shaping American culture in different periods of U.S. history through the stories that are told by the masterfully curated artifacts.  

To prepare my students for the assignment, I provided them with a number of sources that included examples that demonstrated how the entertainment industry has influenced American society in different periods of the country’s history in the past one hundred and fifty years or so. For example, I created a short activity to engage the class with topics related to the cotton industry in the South, the Removal Act, and the Battle of the Native Americans and the U.S. Army which later became the basis for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. This activity demonstrates to students how the legal and political environment influences businesses and vice versa. 

In another example, students learned about the film industry during the Great Depression and how and why Hollywood’s success continued during the 1930s despite the severe economic downturn. We talked about the effect of World War II on the entertainment industry. We also discussed the period immediately after the end of World War II which was a period of economic prosperity for the United States. We specifically talked about the period between 1945 and the end of the 1960s.  

The ’60s was, of course, a remarkable period in U.S. history, marked by fundamental changes in American culture and the political landscape of the country, which were either initiated or supported by artists, entertainers, activists, and entrepreneurs. We talked about José Feliciano’s historical performance at Detroit’s Tiger Stadium before Game 5 of the 1968 World Series and how he shook up the baseball tradition at the young age of 23.  We also talked about the show, Sesame Street, and how it encouraged children and even adults to embrace diversity during a period in U.S. history when the country was faced with challenging social conflicts.  

Discussion topics such as the role of the film industry in boosting the country’s GDP and employment rate during the Great Depression, as well as examples from the film, television, music, and publication industries in the years immediately after World War II through the 1960s help students explore the four economic cycles, namely recession, depression, recovery and prosperity through a historical lens. 

The National Museum of American History Assignment consisted of three sections. The students were divided into small groups. Each group selected one object as the basis of their research and prepared a ten-minute presentation that included information on the following areas: 

1. In the first section, the groups provided background information on the selected topic; the social, cultural, and economic environment in which the selected movie, music album, TV show, etc. was released, and how it influenced the culture and society in its time. 
2. In the second section, the students provided feedback as to how successful they thought the creators of the exhibit were in accomplishing Entertainment Nation’s mission. 
3. In the last section, they explained who or what, in their opinion, was missing from the exhibit and why.  

The groups visited the museum on the first Saturday of October and, by the end of the second week of October, they had selected their topics. Among others, a few of the chosen topics included Muhammad Ali’s boxing career and his role during the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War; Selena’s success at celebrating diversity through her music; Sesame Street and how it influenced the culture in the ‘60s and ‘70s and many more.  

The groups had three weeks to prepare their reports and, finally, during the last week of October, each group gave an educational and entertaining presentation on their selected topic.    

The following are a few sentences from one of the student presentations. 

How Did Sesame Street Influence the American Culture? (By Brooke Parris, Andrea Younes, Conner Ellis, Thomas Sigman, Robert Nunez-Reyes – Group 6, BSAD101-20375, MC, Fall 2023) 

• Sesame Street is one of the first shows that celebrated diversity and inclusion on television. The show portrayed characters from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.  

• Sesame Street also featured many strong female characters that challenged gender roles and stereotypes.  

• Rosita was the first bilingual Muppet [on television]. She was created to [teach children] to be proud of their heritage. 

• Studies determined that the show had a measurable positive effect on children entering elementary school, especially for those in economically disadvantaged areas. 

The level of enthusiasm that the groups demonstrated during the visit, the quality of the presentations and discussions, and the positive feedback that I later received through student surveys indicated that the implementation of the project was successful. As a result, I decided to keep the assignment on my syllabus.   

The following are a few of the many quotes that I received from my students in Fall 2023:  

• “The Entertainment Nation exhibit was an eye-opening experience for me, seeing the impact of entertainment on American society firsthand” – Thomas Sigman   

• “The Entertainment Nation exhibit provided us with a beautiful glimpse into American culture. It was a dazzling collection of iconic pieces.” –  Hania Perez 

• “Lights, camera, action, with history all around us inform[ed] us of iconic entertainers”- Koryn Llufire Siclla  

• “Having pieces of history so close to touch was a surreal experience.”- Nicoy Foster 

• “I always knew Kermit would be happy to see me!” – Gamal Abdelgadir 

In conclusion, the Entertainment Nation exhibit assignment demonstrates to students how Business and society influence one another. The advent of color TV and the changes it brought to how American companies marketed their products and bestseller novels, hit songs, and box office successes such as A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke; Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird; and Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (an American drama about an interracial marriage at the peak of the Civil Rights Movement) illuminate the fact that, in a free market economy, businesses are agents and catalyst of cultural and societal change and ultimately promoters of the shared values of people. In short, the assignment prompts students to think of Business as a social enterprise—that in addition to engaging in economic activities, it plays a key role in advancing the goals of civil society and democracy.  

Ali Alavi is a professor of business studies and a faculty advisor for the Macklin Business Institute at Montgomery College. He teaches Introduction to Business and Statistics for Business and Economics at the Rockville campus. He also teaches Business & Society, an interdisciplinary core course, at George Mason University. He enjoys developing experiential learning activities for his classes. He has participated in many learning opportunities including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Open Pedagogy Fellowship; the Global Humanities Institute’s Many Voices One College Faculty Fellowship; and the MC-Smithsonian Faculty Fellowship Program.