Curriculum Integration

Dana Veneziani
July 14, 2009
Curriculum Evaluation
Dr. Jay Dugan

Curriculum integration is a way to increase student understanding by teaching across the disciplines—teaching subject areas according to their natural connections rather than in isolation from one another. It doesn't mean that science teachers suddenly must teach English, or vice versa. It may be one teacher within a discipline making connections to other disciplines. It may be all the teachers at a grade level planning a unit that combines several disciplines. Curriculum integration focuses on making learning reflect life so that students see the value of what they are being taught. (www.ascd.org)

Integrated curriculum is an educational approach that prepares children for lifelong learning. There is a strong belief among those who support curriculum integration that schools must look at education as a process for developing abilities required by life in the twenty-first century, rather than discrete, departmentalized subject matter. Thus, bringing together various aspects of the curriculum into meaningful association to focus upon broad areas of study. It views learning and teaching in a holistic way and reflects the real world, which is interactive. In general, integrated curriculum or interdisciplinary curriculums include:
· A combination of subjects
· An emphasis on projects
· Sources that go beyond textbooks
· Relationships among concepts
· Thematic units as organizing principles
· Flexible schedules
· Flexible student groupings.

Interdisciplinary teaching is a method, or set of methods, used to teach a unit across different curricular disciplines. For example, the seventh grade Language Arts, Science and Social Studies teachers might work together to form an interdisciplinary unit on rivers. (Wikipedia)
The local river system would be the unifying idea, but the English teacher would link it to Language Arts by studying river vocabulary and teaching students how to do a research report. The science teacher might teach children about the life systems that exist in the river, while the Social Studies teacher might help students research the local history and peoples who used the river for food and transport. (Wikipedia)

The following are reasons why curriculum integration is important:
· Students see relationships among ideas and concepts as they plan and experience a theme-based inquiry.
· Relationships between in- and out-of-school topics become obvious to students.
· Communication processes become authentic as students engage in thematically based learning activities.
· Students are encouraged to share ideas. As they listen to one another, their personal bases of ideas are expanded.
· Respect and cooperation among peers are expanded through interaction.
· Students become more responsible for, and engaged in, their own learning.
· The teacher assumes the role of facilitator rather than information dispenser.
· A sense of community develops as cooperatively designed student activities are created.
· Many grouping patterns naturally emerge.
· Assessment is authentic, continuous, and related to learning endeavors. (www.todaysteacher.com)

Why should teachers work to integrate curriculum? Teachers have found that they want to develop ways to make their classroom more like the world outside. We don't live in isolation. When we go to the grocery store, we don't just do math. We have to read things that are on the packages. We have to decide about quantities. We have to look at nutrition. There are a lot of things that have to be done at one time. (www.ascd.org)
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