Curriculum Integration: Making Curriculum Meaningful.

 I think back to the days of my K-12 education. It was nearly twenty years ago! Wow, I felt my age rise for just a second! I remember sitting in rows, all facing the front, and the teacher giving us information. I remember how boring it seemed and how much of it didn't stick. 15 years later, college proved that nothing critical was maintained. I have had to teach myself to think critically. I have spent 4 years of college learning to do just that-- critically think. Research and school has stressed that this traditional way of teaching needs to go. We are taught to sit our students in groups, with partners and that cooperative learning is the way to go. We have learned to create relationships and facilitate learning. Massive shift, right? Now, let's take it further! Research proves that teaching one subject all on it's own, while memorizing facts, is not the way to go. We are learning that teaching across the curriculum helps students take what they are learning and measure it up to their real lives! Research is proving that curriculum integration is making learning meaningful! Let's find out how!

What is Curriculum Integration?

First let us look at what Integration means. Integration is the process of combining multiple things into one. So, the definition of Curriculum Integration that I like is: Curriculum Integration is "combining multiple areas of study into individual lessons". (Integrated Lessons: Definition & Examples, 2015). Mastering of facts should come secondary to making curriculum cross each other and become meaningful. The idea that all subjects can have anything to do with the other makes what you are learning seem more real. For example: think of cooking. In order to try a new recipe you first have to be able to read and follow directions. Secondly, math is very much integrated into your meal. How many cups of water does it take? What about flour? Many families get to add in a special story of how that recipe has been passed down from generation to generation. There is your social studies. Lastly, in any meal that you cook there is going to be some science. What reaction happens when you mix all those ingredients? Can you take the ingredients back out and make them their original ingredient? What possible chemical reaction happened here? When you integrate the curriculum your lessons now become more meaningful.

What are the Pros and Cons with Curriculum Integration?

As with everything there are pros and cons when it comes to curriculum integration. 

Pros:

• Helps remove or reduce redundancies

• Offers students opportunities to see more easily the interconnections between discreet pieces of knowledge, different disciplines and content

• Offers an avenue for deeper learning as students and faculty are provided with different and altered perspectives

• At interdisciplinary levels, integrated designs help students focus on the critical, evaluative, and creative thinking aspects of learning

• Facilitates better understanding between academics and promotes exploration of different disciplines

Cons:

• It greatly waters down the disciplinary focus and therefore compromises traditional content

• People without deep understanding of a discipline and advanced training cannot fully understand the finer points or nuances inherent in a field of stud

• Barriers such as parochial departmental mindsets, and administrators’ inabilities to see beyond the narrow confines of dollars, credit limitations, and student head count can restrict the effectiveness of developing quality integrated program

• Designs and connections are sometimes haphazard and poorly formed

• Weak or ill-conceived partnerships have little or no basis for continued or supported work and can often be counterproductive and divisive

How does curriculum integration create a meaningful curriculum?

• Provides more meaning- gives the student ways that it will be useful in their world.

• You can center the topics around the learner.

• Content can become more authentic by creating fluid questions and answers that isn't just for one class.

• Builds learner appreciation. It peaks their interest.

Kids are more interested in what they are learning when it has meaning to them. If the student can find a way to connect to the learning then it is going to stick. So, if you are learning about animal habitats in subtropics then you can read stories or passages about it in reading. You can also learn about the people or community that surround that climate. There are endless possibilities. The only thing is it does take a little more planning but the students will fly with the subject. 

There are strategies that you can use:

• Question of the Day- This is an open-ended question. The students may illustrate, journal, or discussion the answers that they come up with.
• Mysterious Possibilities- The teacher displays a scientific photo, image, or object. The students brainstorm and solve the connections

Strategies are there to help engage the students and enhance the learning. 

How does curriculum integration create a meaningful curriculum?

Wilson (2022) says that to integrate curriculum and make meaningful curriculum you must be willing to put in the time. These are the following steps that Wilson (2022) recommends to follow:

She goes on to show actions that should also be taken to implement curriculum integration. 

With a little extra time, and maybe some more research you can create your own integrated curriculum lesson with success. 

Synthesizing Standards

Teachers realized that when looking at standards that it would be difficult to teach each one separate. This is easy to see when we look at the different standards with in the language arts category. There are similarities when you look at the different objectives. When looking at synthesizing standards it was easy to see that without doing it returning to the traditional way was pretty easy. When we see all the subjects as one, we can effectively teach the subjects as a unified one. 

Effectively combining the curriculum will lead to a more meaningful curriculum. The students will be more invested and engaged and the gaps will begin to fill. We are even starting to see this in our standardized testing. Starting next year all the STAAR passages will be science and social studies related. So, it is important that the students see this in the classroom. 

Resources:


Integrated Lessons: Definition & Examples. (2015, October 19). Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/integrated-lessons-definition-examples.html.

Button, L. (n.d.) Curriculum Essentials: A Journey. Retrieved from: https://oer.pressbooks.pub/curriculumessentials/chapter/curriculum-integration/


Wilson, L.O. (n.d.) Integrating curriculum by degrees. The Second Principle. https://thesecondprinciple.com/instructional-design/curriculumintegration/


E. (2010, August 5). Common Sense: An Overview of Integrated Studies [Video]. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdIVCuBR_NY&feature=youtu.be