Integrated Curriculum
The K-12 curriculum has a long tradition of being organized by separate disciplines of study (e.g. mathematics, science, language arts, social studies, etc.). However, in this age of ubiquitous information, digital connectedness, and technological advancement, there are increased opportunities for students to consider connections across disciplines and engage with real world issues from multiple lenses. These opportunities call for more integrated approaches to curriculum implementation that allow students to:
construct meaningful connections between disciplinary concepts,
draw on a wide range of cross-disciplinary skills, and
apply knowledge from different disciplines to topics that cannot be easily situated in just one way of knowing.
Integrated learning has shown to produce many positive learning outcomes, including students’ increased ability to (Repko, 2008):
Engage in perspective-taking so that a problem can be seen from multiple ways of thinking;
Explain the nature of a real-world issue or problem more deeply;
Apply disciplinary concepts and skills in flexible ways; and
Produce solutions that are more creative and innovative.
There are three broad approaches to integrated learning (Drake & Burns, 2004). Students may learn about a common theme as approached by:
separate disciplines and then make connections (multidisciplinary),
participation in a structured unit of learning that is designed to facilitate and integrate concepts and practices across specific disciplines (interdisciplinary) and/or
engaging in an open-ended learning task that naturally draws upon multiple disciplines as they investigate or solve a real world problem (transdisciplinary).
A brief overview of these approaches is presented in the table below (adapted from Drake & Burns, 2004).
Features
Multidisciplinary Integration
Interdisciplinary Integration
Transdisciplinary Integration
Organizing Center
Standards of the disciplines organized around a theme.
Interdisciplinary skills and concepts embedded in disciplinary standards.
Real-life context and student questions as the initial driver; Connections to standards unfold throughout the experience.
Role of Disciplines
Distinct skills and concepts of discipline taught.
Interdisciplinary skills and concepts stressed.
Disciplines identified but real-life context emphasized.
Role of Teacher
Facilitator; Specialist.
Facilitator; Specialist/generalist.
Co-planner; Co-learner; Generalist/specialist.
Assessment
Discipline-based.
Interdisciplinary skills/concepts stressed.
Interdisciplinary skills/concepts stressed.
Example
The theme of sustainability can be explored from a historical lens (social studies), a scientific lens (science), and a persuasive writing lens (ELA).
Patterns of inheritance (science) can be better understood when students concurrently learn probability (math) in a structured unit, and vice versa.
Exploring the broad question, “Why are health risks for a certain population increasing over time?” will naturally lead to concurrent explorations and connections across disciplines.
It is recommended that educators draw on these perspectives flexibly to suit their specific learning goals. These approaches call for an increased focus on teacher collaboration. Examples might include grade-level team coordination in elementary contexts and cross-disciplinary partnerships in middle and secondary contexts.
It is important to consider the following principles when planning an integrated curriculum:
integrated approaches require purposeful planning to ensure that standards are appropriately addressed;
an integrated learning experience often asks students to apply different types of disciplinary knowledge they have previously developed; and
integration should reflect authentic connections in the real world and not be ‘forced.’
Integrated curriculum approaches can provide many benefits to both teachers and students. They encourage teachers to collaborate and take on innovative mindsets. They include opportunities for students to exercise their voice in choosing specific topics to pursue or the type of assessment to showcase their learning, and to experience the connection of multiple disciplinary concepts to the world around them. A balanced approach between specialization and integration will ensure that students have opportunities for both deep understanding and innovative application of knowledge throughout their education.