What is one of the best reasons for using integrated curriculum?

As a future teacher, I recognize that “good” teaching is not simply the transmission of knowledge from teacher to student, but is rather the means by which learning occurs – both for the teacher and for the students. Learning does not take place within a vacuum in which students simply accept whatever knowledge is handed to them without first examining it against their schema. Students are constantly bombarded with information and ideas from the world around them – to assume that these do not infiltrate their opinions about life would be foolish. This is one reason I find such value in pursuing teaching via an integrated curriculum.

An integrated curriculum is all about making connections, whether to real life or across the disciplines, about skills or about knowledge (Drake & Burns, 2004, p. 7-8). An integrated curriculum fuses subject areas, experiences, and real-life knowledge together to make a more fulfilling and tangible learning environment for students. This may mean simply giving a math assignment that involves the characters in that week’s reading story or it could be as complex as giving the entire year a theme and creating lessons to incorporate that topic. Because students are not taught in a vacuum, devoid of outside interaction and information, their connections between what they learn in school and the knowledge and experiences they have already had, play a large role in understanding concepts and retention of learning.

Another reason that I find use of an integrated curriculum to be so pertinent is due simply to the fact that it offers more repetition of information than to teach subjects in isolation. As John Medina, renowned molecular biologist and author, in his book Brain Rules and on his website brainrules.net, explains, “The capacity of memory is initially less than 30 seconds. If we don’t repeat the information, it disappears,” (2008). If students are not receiving this information more than once, it is quite reasonably “going in one ear and out the other.” By taking the information learned in the morning in one subject, and refreshing students’ memories about this information later in the day, in a different subject study, they are much more likely to retain this knowledge. Medina shares, “The way to make long-term memory more reliable is to incorporate new information gradually and repeat it in timed intervals,” (Medina, 2008, p.147). By incorporating various subjects into others throughout the day, I would be able to repeat information that students may have missed or forgotten about from previous discussions. The more often the information is repeated, and the more interesting the information is, the greater the likelihood that students will preserve it.

Finally, each and every student in my future classroom will be different. Each student will have a distinct learning style. By using an integrated curriculum, I will be much more likely to reach more students in a way that attracts them. While one student may not have cared about a subject studied in the morning, when it is tied to a favorite afternoon subject, his or her interest will suddenly become piqued. While it is virtually impossible to individualize classroom instruction to the degree that I would like to, using an integrated curriculum is heading in the direction of teaching each student in a way that is relevant and applicable to him or her. I think that I will definitely put in the time and effort it takes to use an integrated curriculum because the benefits for students are significant.

In this comical, yet informative video, John Medina shares the importance of repetition in the classroom and in life in general. I think that an integrated curriculum offers the opportunity for repetition throughout the day to help students cement their knowledge in long-term memory.

Click here to watch the video: Memory

References

Drake, Susan M. & Burns, Rebecca, C. (2004). Meeting Standards Through Integrated Curriculum. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).

Medina, John. (2008). Brain Rules. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.

Medina, John. (2010). Brainrules.net. Retrieved January 7, 2010: http://www.brainrules.net/brain-rules-video

The benefits of an integrated curriculum both for teaching and learning are endless. For an integrated curriculum to be effective, the curriculum does need to be thought out and developed. Here are a few steps that need to be considered when developing an integrated curriculum[9]:

Select achievable learning outcomes
Consider what service experiences are most likely to enable students to achieve the desired outcomes
Approach potential community partners
Plan the experience in detail
Determine how you will prepare students for the experience
Select activities that are appropriate and meaningful for the students
Integrate critical reflection through experience
Address logistical issues
Develop a plan to measure the achievement of students and community outcomes
Seek closure, recognize and celebrate success

By creating an integrated curriculum using service-learning, you are changing the teaching and learning experience for both the teacher and the learner. Integrated curriculums allow students to have a deeper understanding of the course subject matter and how to apply the material that they have learned in the classroom in a real-world situation[10]. This ultimately helps prepare them for their future studies, career and life in general.

[1] https://study.com/academy/lesson/integrated-curriculum-definition-benefits-examples.html

[2, 3, 4, 5] Drake,S,M & Burns,R,C. (2004). Meeting Standards Through Integrated Curriculum. United States of America. ASCSD

[6,7,8,9] Jacoby,B, Howard,J. (2015).Service-Learning Essentials: Questions, Answers and Lessons Learned. United States of America, Jossey-Bass. PG 80-146 .

[10] Astin,A,W, Eyler,J, & Dwight, E,G Jr. (1999). Where’s The Learning In Service-Learning?. United States of America, Jossey-Bass. PG 80

Integrated studies allows students to gain knowledge in a truly interdisciplinary fashion.

Photo credit: Ethan Pines

In today's dynamic global economy, centered on the development and exchange of knowledge and information, individuals prosper who are fluent in several disciplines and comfortable moving among them. Creativity, adaptability, critical reasoning, and collaboration are highly valued skills. When it comes to fostering those skills in the classroom, integrated study is an extremely effective approach, helping students develop multifaceted expertise and grasp the important role interrelationships can play in the real world.

Integrated studies, sometimes called interdisciplinary studies, brings together diverse disciplines in a comprehensive manner, enabling students to develop a meaningful understanding of the complex associations and influences within a topic. A happy by-product of this approach, which is often coupled with project-based learning, is that it makes school more interesting and productive for students and teachers.

"The Logic of Interdisciplinary Studies," an exhaustive 1997 research report, found broad consensus among dozens of researchers as to what the report called the "positive educational outcomes" for students in an integrated- studies program:

Increased understanding, retention, and application of general concepts.
Better overall comprehension of global interdependencies, along with the development of multiple perspectives and points of view, as well as values.
Increased ability to make decisions, think critically and creatively, and synthesize knowledge beyond the disciplines.
Enhanced ability to identify, assess, and transfer significant information needed for solving novel problems.
Promotion of cooperative learning and a better attitude toward oneself as a learner and as a meaningful member of a community.
Increased motivation.

One integrated-studies success story is playing out every day at High Tech High, in San Diego, California, where interdisciplinary curriculum and project learning have propelled 100 percent of the school's graduates to college acceptance; 80 percent of those enroll in four-year institutions. Larry Rosenstock, High Tech High's founding principal and now CEO, explains that the school's approach is not an end in itself, but rather "a means of restructuring the American high school experience for kids." How students learn at High Tech High closely resembles the varied ways in which any of us acquire knowledge and apply skills in the experientially kaleidoscopic real world.

For instance, to create a series of field guides about San Diego Bay, High Tech High students work with a team of the school's biology, math, and humanities teachers, researching, writing, and producing the books. So far, five guides have been published to excellent reviews.

To ensure ongoing progress and monitor quality, a constructive feedback system is critical for any integrated-studies program based on project-based learning. It's essential, Rosenstock emphasizes, that student work is presented to, and assessed by, fellow students, teachers, and parents, as well as professionals in the relevant disciplines. That way, he says, "you build into the school a system, a cycle of improvement."

Although integrated studies has been around in one form or another for nearly a century, the approach has won newfound acceptance in recent years, thanks to effective advocate-practitioners like Rosenstock and the many on-the-ground success stories coming out of schools across the country.

After all, our daily life and work are not stratified into "the math part, the science part, the history part, and the English part," Rosenstock points out. "Kids don't experience the world that way." Instead, they -- and all of us -- live in a truly interdisciplinary fashion.

Return to our Integrated Studies page to learn more, or read an extended version of this article with comments by experts Sir Ken Robinson and Heidi Hayes Jacobs and more details about High School High's San Diego field guides.