Integrated Curriculum Guide

8/3/2019 Integrated Curriculum Guide

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Introduction The concept of integrating curriculum is nothing new. It’s beenaround, in fact, since the 1800s and was advocated by such well-known educational theorists as John Dewey and Meredith Smith(Beane 2, 5). It has gained recent attention, however and moreand more educators think that it is the best way to teach.

With many different and sometimes conflicting definitions andideas about integrated curriculum, it can be hard to know how toapproach it, or even what it is. We hope the following can help

you find your way through the sometimes confusing concept of integrated curriculum. It provides information on whatintegrated curriculum is, why it is effective, existing examples,and how to begin a program in your own school or classroom.

http://www.archeworks.org/projects/tcsp/ic_guide_p6.html






Definition Integrated curriculum is a way to teach students that attempts tobreak down barriers between subjects and make learning moremeaningful to students. The idea is to teach around themes, or"organizing centers" that students can identify with, such as"The Environment," "Life in School," or more traditional areaslike "Myths and Legends." (Beane 13 - 14). Major concepts areculled from these broad themes, and activities are planned thatteach or inform of these concepts. For example, in a unit entitled

"the Environment," students might learn about the concept of conservation through starting their own recycling program,conduct a campaign for environmental awareness, or a survey of

which local businesses advocate conservation (Beane 1).














Through this example, one can see how integrated curriculumrequires accessing knowledge from all of the traditional subjects

without labeling them as such. In addition, integratedcurriculum adds problem-solving, real-world application andsocial consciousness to the learning process, making it a morecomprehensive way of educating and of learning.

One can also see from the example that integrated curriculumgoes beyond merely "overlapping" the different existing subjects.That is, students do not merely read about Earth Day in Englishor calculate pollution levels in Math. Rather they learn in a way that avoids labeling knowledge and, more importantly, drawsupon their own life experiences and backgrounds. This makeslearning real for the students and gives them some ‘stake’ in thelearning process.



Why Integrated Curriculum is Effective Integrated curriculum is an effective way to teach and learnbecause it corresponds with the way our brain worksphysiologically. Rather than separating knowledge into discrete

partitions, the brain creates a complex web of information thatrecognizes patterns. Moreover, learning within a known contextor experience helps the brain remember information moreeffectively (Caine 5). In fact, the physical structure of the brainchanges as a result of experience, and it grows and develops morein an interactive environment (Caine 27-28). Integrating

curriculum is a way to capitalize on these existing features of thehuman brain and work with, rather than counter to its naturalfunction.














Besides being compatible with brain function, there are other reasonsintegrated curriculum makes sense. First, it teaches concepts that helpstudents approach any situation or problem, rather than facts which have

limited application. When you think about how knowledge has grown, butclassroom time has not, you can see how this way of approaching education ismore beneficial to the student in the long run. We can’t teach every fact, so it’sbetter to teach how to think about facts (Brandt 24).

Finally, there is no particular rationale for the way things are done currently.The current system is, in fact, somewhat counter productive, as it does not

encourage teacher-teacher communication or resource-sharing. Withintegrated curriculum, however, these kinds of communications are anindispensable part of the process. They ensure that information is notrepeated, and that teachers help each other teacher, rather than working atodds with each other (Brandt 26).








Examples of Integrated Curriculum Many different kinds of education institutions have tried an integratedapproach and found success. Hightstown High School in New Jersey,The Colorado School of Mines, Horton School in San Diego, and TheGuggenheim Elementary School in Chicago are just a few examples.Connections, an experimental small school that helped develop thisOnline Classroom, experienced the highest standardized test scores inits five years the year it taught using integrated curriculum.

Even Archeworks, the institution that created Connect 4 Education,uses an integrated approach. Archeworks is an alternative school of design that uses design to address social needs or problems. This Web

site was created by the collaboration of a web designer, art historian,city building inspector, chemist, accountant, and graphic designer. Theteam was presented with a problem, facilitate fifth grade education,and attempted to address using a design application.

http://www.archeworks.org/projects/index.html

http://www.archeworks.org/projects/index.html



How toTeaching an Integrated Curriculum The challenge of teaching an integrated curriculumis structuring properly so as to teach the desired skill set. The problems formulated forthe students to solve must reference their specific life experiences, be engaging withoutfrivolous, and must challenge the student intellectually. As integrated curriculumreceives more attention, however, there are an increasing amount of teaching aides

designed to help the teacher integrate curriculum in an effective manner. Though it may require more work initially, in the end it is no more work intensive than the moretraditional teaching method and is more rewarding for both the teacher and the student.

Teacher should be warned, however - integrated curriculum is not the panacea for alleducational problems. In the words of Jere Brophy and Janet Alleman, "Just because anactivity crosses subject-matter lines does not make it worthwhile; it must also helpaccomplish educational goals." (66). The integrated curriculum approach should be viewed as a tool that can help educate students and engage them in the learning process.

It is not an end in and of itself. Following are some tips to help get you started teaching integrated curriculum. For more

specific help, or for more information about teaching aides, contact the Association forSupervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) [www.ascd.org]. Long a respectedassociation with the field of education, the ASCD offers more information aboutintegrated curriculum, as well as how to teach it.






Things to Remember (Brandt 26):

Start small: you don’t have to have a comprehensive program to

start integrating curriculum. Start with activities like teachingdemographics and statistics during a unit on immigration in late19th century America, or reading The Diary of Anne Frank whilestudying World War II.

Communicate: Talk to other teachers who might be interested,or just to find out what they are teaching and when.

Time: Scheduling can be one of the most important factors forstarting an integrated curriculum program. Large blocks of timeused by teams of teachers work the best.





The following is a well-researched model for starting an integrated curriculummodel within a school ( Jacobs 27-28).Phase I: Conducting Action Research(6 months - 1 year)Conduct internal research to find out what each teacher teaches and when.

This is to avoid teaching information more than once, and to identify areas thatcould be integrated. One way to do this is to plot what is taught in each subjectmonth-by-month.

Conduct external research to Find Out More about integrated curriculum. A good place to start is the October 1991 issue of Educational Leadership (vol. 49,no. 2). This magazine, a publication of the ASCD, provides a good overview of integrated curriculum including definitions, how to teach it, examples, models,

and resources. It also lists publications for further reading on the subject.Other areas of research could be on team building, scheduling alternatives,different approaches to evaluation and assessment, and "writing across contentareas."*This phase could be accomplished through a Teacher Study Group as described in the Professional Development portion of this Web site.



http://www.archeworks.org/projects/tcsp/development.html








Phase II: Develop a Proposal(2 - 4 months in the 1st year) Assess areas that couldoverlap subjects. Maybe start by updating existing

units with increased collaboration between teachers.Create a proposal that outlines "how to evaluate,budget, timeline, teachers’ responsibilities", etc. Afterproposal is evaluated and critiqued by the board, LSC,

etc, try it out in class.



Phase III: Implement and Monitor the Pilot(2nd year) Evaluate the program: see how well theteam of teacher is functioning, how time schedules

work (enough?, too much?), what resources materials work/don’t work.

Record data/findings so that the program can beadjusted accordingly.

Conduct regular team meetings to discuss progress.



Phase IV : Adopt Program(3rd year) Make the program a permanent part of thecurriculum "Planning Wheels" can help you design a

curriculum that is integrated around a subject area.They can help organize information so that specificeducational goals are met. The following is just oneexample (Palmer 57-60):






Documents

Integrated Curriculum Guide