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This chapter begins with an overview of the concept of intercultural competence and its fundamental role in our global society. Using examples of inquiry-based learning (IBL) methods as a means to provide interdisciplinary pedagogies that foster learners’ intercultural competence development, this chapter examines innovative approaches to respond to this global community need in the academic context. With a review of interdisciplinary IBL methods, the chapter centers on the following three principal areas: (1) role of IBL and service-learning (SL) in the development of intercultural competence within an interdisciplinary framework, (2) practical examples of how the author implements IBL using cooperative learning strategies and SL into humanities courses that consist of students from various disciplines ranging from health to political sciences for intercultural competence development, and (3) challenges and benefits of SL programs as forms of IBL.

This chapter provides an introduction to how the inquiry-based learning (IBL) approach is being used by colleges and universities around the world to strengthen the interconnections between teaching, learning, and research within the multidisciplinary programs. This chapter provides a synthesis and analysis of all the chapters in the volume, which present a range of perspectives, case studies, and empirical research on how IBL is being used across a range of courses across a range of institutions within multidisciplinary programs. The chapter argues that the IBL approach has great potential to enhance and transform teaching and learning. Given the growing demands placed on education to meet a diverse range of complex political, economic, and social problems and personal needs, this chapter argues that education should be a place where students learn “how-to-learn” – where increasingly higher levels of self-directed learning is fostered – and where students grow in the three key areas of learning: cognitively, emotionally, and socially. To that end, this chapter argues that IBL, if designed and implemented properly, can be an important approach to enhancing and transforming teaching and learning.