**1. Introduction**

The world today is characterized through three major elements in the scientific field: the development of classical sciences, the increasingly evolution in the field of computer science and, as result, the emergence of a large number of new border sciences or interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary sciences.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research has emerged as a result of the complexity of the world that surrounds us and as a result of the fact that in all fields of scientific research, the complexity of the studied phenomena transcends the borders of a single science.

Another cause that determined the apparition of transdisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity is that the most important discoveries in scientific fields such as life sciences, aerospace sciences, biophysics and other sciences are emerging at the interface between two or more scientific fields.

Even though it is obvious that transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research leads to spectacular results and that without interdisciplinary and transdisicplinary research current science does not have how to evolve; however, they have been identified a number of barriers that slows interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach in scientific research.

A study regarding interdisciplinarity in sciences, conducted by the Academy of Finland [1], highlights a number of barriers of different nature that occur in communication processes and interactions within teams working in interdisciplinary research projects, generating tensions, conflicts or delays in the completion of those projects.

These barriers can be classified into:


We will briefly introduce what each of these barriers represents. A thorough analysis of them is available in Ref. [1].

*Structural barriers* are related to the organizational structure of the institution or institutions where interdisciplinary research activity occurs: the hierarchy and decision systems, organizational rules, financing sources, influencing how it is carried out the research activity.

*Knowledge barriers* are generated by the gap of knowledge that specialists in a particular scientific field they have compared to other scientific fields involved in an interdisciplinary research project.

*Cultural barriers* occur because of problems related to the language used in communication within teams working in multidisciplinary research projects. Each scientific field is characterized by its own specialized terminology, the used terms may sometimes be the same, but in a greater or lesser measure, different in their meanings. As a result, confusion and misunderstandings can arise in the communication on the project, because different terms are used to refer to the same concepts, or similar terms have different meanings from one scientific field to another.

*Epistemological barriers* are generated by the vision that various scientific fields have regarding the world and by the way in which the various phenomena are perceived in terms of importance by each scientific field separately. It was also found that epistemological barriers depend on the way in which the various scientific fields have evolved over the time.

*Methodological barriers* are result of the fact that each scientific field is characterized by its own research methodologies in designing, conducting and reporting research.

*Psychological barriers* arise due to the fact that each scientific researcher involved in an interdisciplinary project is intellectually and emotionally attached to the scientific field to which he/her belongs and in which he/her has invested intellect, time and labor. In addition, the migration of scientific researchers from a research field in a multidisciplinary team, in which they have to interact with other researchers from other scientific fields, characterized by their own culture, especially in the early stage can generate negative emotions.

*Reception barriers* are specific to those interdisciplinary research project phases in which, in various forms (reports, publications, presentations, applications for funding), the results of interdisciplinary research activity are disclosed to the layman public (appraisers, financiers, civil society), and there are attempts to assess the interdisciplinarity in the project.

We found that similar barriers can also be identified in the case of transdisciplinary scientific research.

The study [1] identifies two main reasons of these barriers:


The Report of the MASIS Expert Group "Challenging Futures of Science in Society—Emerging trends and cutting-edge issues" [2] brings into discussion new concepts regarding science:


Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research has emerged as a result of the complexity of the world that surrounds us and as a result of the fact that in all fields of scientific research, the

Another cause that determined the apparition of transdisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity is that the most important discoveries in scientific fields such as life sciences, aerospace sciences, biophysics and other sciences are emerging at the interface between two or more scientific

Even though it is obvious that transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research leads to spectacular results and that without interdisciplinary and transdisicplinary research current science does not have how to evolve; however, they have been identified a number of barriers

A study regarding interdisciplinarity in sciences, conducted by the Academy of Finland [1], highlights a number of barriers of different nature that occur in communication processes and interactions within teams working in interdisciplinary research projects, generating tensions,

We will briefly introduce what each of these barriers represents. A thorough analysis of them

*Structural barriers* are related to the organizational structure of the institution or institutions where interdisciplinary research activity occurs: the hierarchy and decision systems, organizational rules, financing sources, influencing how it is carried out the research activity.

*Knowledge barriers* are generated by the gap of knowledge that specialists in a particular scientific field they have compared to other scientific fields involved in an interdisciplinary

*Cultural barriers* occur because of problems related to the language used in communication within teams working in multidisciplinary research projects. Each scientific field is characterized by its own specialized terminology, the used terms may sometimes be the same, but in a greater or lesser measure, different in their meanings. As a result, confusion and misunderstandings can arise in the communication on the project, because different terms are used to refer to the same concepts, or similar terms have different meanings from one scientific field to another.

complexity of the studied phenomena transcends the borders of a single science.

that slows interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach in scientific research.

conflicts or delays in the completion of those projects.

These barriers can be classified into:

138 Science Education - Research and New Technologies

fields.

• Structural • Knowledge

• Cultural

• Reception

• Epistemological • Methodological • Psychological

is available in Ref. [1].

research project.


Through the concepts introduced and explained in the document, the report highlights new approaches regarding the evolution and philosophy of science. These approaches are generated both by the development sciences (classic sciences and new emerged sciences) and by the complexity of the world we live.

Considering the direction of evolution in scientific research, in order to prepare future professionals who can successfully face the challenges of sciences, education systems must adapt at all levels of education to the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary trends in scientific research.

Moreover, one of the main objectives of the educational system should be eliminating the barriers identified in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research, in order to accelerate the progress of sciences and technology and through them, as result, to accelerate the progress of entire society.

The removal or mitigation of cultural, methodological or knowledge barriers that occur in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research can be achieved only through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary orientation in teaching-learning activities, such that current students, future professionals, will develop from early stage during the years of study those skills that will make them competitive in an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary scientific research activity.

The report emphasizes the absolute necessity for students to be familiarized with various fields of computer science during their schooling. In order to be an effective approach in favor of students, with long-term beneficial effect on the training of future specialists, familiarizing students with various areas of computer science should be done according on their own leaning skills and interests.

Thus, the discipline computer science should be studied in an interdisciplinary way, correlated with other scientific field (or fields), which constitute the subject of interest for every student.

In the same sense, in another important document, the report of the joint Informatics Europe & ACM Europe Working Group on Informatics Education, we have identified the following objectives concerning computer science education in Europe [3]:


The two bodies have developed the following recommendations for educational systems across Europe regarding computer science education [3]:

**1.** "All students should benefit from education in digital literacy, starting from an early age and mastering the basic concepts by age 12. Digital literacy education should emphasize not only skills, but also the principles and practices of using them effectively and ethically."


As it will be seen in the next chapters, the Romanian educational system integrated in the curricula at all educational levels, computer science education and computer literacy education, correlated with other disciplines included in the school curricula.
