The Interdisciplinary Curriculum

Explore the two important criteria to which every interdisciplinary program must adhere and read about six design options for an interdisciplinary curriculum.

Originally published as a special issue of the Middle School Journal, this book presents integrative curriculum as a foundational element of the middle school. By addressing the current gap in literature on curriculum integration in the middle grades, this text explores how learning can be organized around authentic concepts or questions which cut across disciplines and speak to young adolescents. Providing a current, nuanced, and comprehensive review of what it means to embrace and implement an interdisciplinary and integrative curriculum, the volume considers how educators can create and deliver a high-quality integrative curriculum which is enjoyable, challenging, and inclusive. Examples of implementation in teacher preparation programs and middle grade classrooms showcase integrative approaches and illustrate how curricula have been key in tackling social inequities, increasing engagement with STEM, and supporting collaboration. This text will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, academics and libraries in the field of Middle School Education, Curriculum Studies, Teacher Education, Theories of Learning, and STEM Education.

If you've ever thought that standards-based teaching and required content prevent you from integrating subject areas, then here's a book that will change the way you think and alert you to exciting new possibilities in your approach to teaching. Learn how to identify the connections in your standards that provide the basis for interdisciplinary units. Explore all types of integrated curriculum and how they bridge content standards to authentic, relevant learning experiences. And understand how to create interdisciplinary units that provide data-based evidence of student learning. A planning template and detailed examples of successful integrated curriculums are included to help you implement integrated curriculum in practice. Discover how you can make learning more exciting for students--and rewarding for you.

In this book, a group of educators examine the reputed merits of the interdisciplinary curriculum movement that has gained wisespread popularity in recent years. They explore the complex texture of what actually happens in the classroom when theory meets reality. Some topics addressed are: how teachers with diverse backgrounds come together to plan curricula; what happens to school culture when an interdisciplinary effort is spearheaded by administrators; and what transpires when new curricula are put into practice either at the local school level or across major urban districts.

Articles for developing an integrated secondary curriculum are presented in this book. The articles include: "Synthesis Versus Fragmentation: The Way Out of Curriculum Confusion," by Daniel Tanner; "The Interrelated Curriculum," by Steven S. Means; "Integrated Teaching and Learning in Essential Schools," by Richard Lear; "Interdisciplinary Teaming at the High School," by Dustin A. Peters; "The Micro-Society School," by Donald P. Hayes, Sue Ellen Hogan, and Thomas F. Malone; "The Core: Integrated Curriculum and Student Support: A Case Study," by Suzanne R. Krumbein and Gerald Krumbein; "Project 2061: Science for All Americans," by Andrew Ahlgren; "Environmental Education: An Opportunity for Interdisciplinary and Multi-Disciplinary Curriculum Planning," by John Ramsey; "Can We Move Writing Across the Curriculum?," by Margaret Earley; and "Some Common Threads of the Interdisciplinary Curriculum," by John M. Jenkins. (LMI)