Developing critical thinking through the lens of interdisciplinarity: a case study of a Criminological Theory module

Criminological theory is a uniquely challenging module to teach – not only because of the number of disciplines associated with criminology, but also because of the fragmented state of criminological theory itself. In this paper, we present a case study of teaching a criminological theory module to first-year undergraduate social science students. Through this case study, we argue that including thoughtful discussions of interdisciplinarity, theoretical integration, and philosophy of science is essential in delivering a module that is honest to its discipline, teaches students the skills of reflective practice and critical thinking, and, ultimately, leads students to enjoy the module. We designed and delivered an interdisciplinary module that incorporated lectures, seminars, a self-guided online activity (SGOA) and a summative assessment, all carefully structured to highlight and promote an interdisciplinary approach to criminological theory. To assess the module’s impact, we conducted semi-structured focus group interviews with students, using thematic analysis. This paper examines how embedding critical interdisciplinarity into a criminological theory module promotes the development of students’ critical thinking, with particular attention to analytical depth, synthesis across disciplinary perspectives, and reflective engagement with peer and feedback processes.