Integrated Curriculum
By Kathy lake
(Summary)
Kathy
lake said on her research paper, A basic
definition is offered by Humphreys (Humphreys, Post, and Ellis 1981) when he
states, "An integrated study is one in which children broadly explore
knowledge in various subjects related to certain aspects of their
environment" He sees links among the humanities, communication arts, natural
sciences, mathematics, social studies, music, and art. Skills and knowledge are
developed and applied in more than one area of study.
Based on kathy lake
research paper, explain that there are varied levels of integration, as
illustrated by Palmer (1991, p. 59), who describes the following practices:
- Developing
cross-curriculum subobjectives within a given curriculum guide
- Developing
model lessons that include cross-curricular activities and assessments
- Developing
enrichment or enhancement activities with a cross-curricular focus including suggestions
for cross-curricular "contacts" following each objective
- Developing
assessment activities that are cross-curricular in nature
- Including
sample planning wheels in all curriculum guides.
And integration
curriculum has some essential components (the following essential components
was list by shoemoker, kathy lake said on her research paper)
- Core skills and processes. These include
basic skills, such as reading and mathematics,
as well as social skills and problem solving.
- Curriculum strands and themes. These are the
organizing principles around which the curriculum is built. They are
broad-e.g., Human Societies-and integrate content from multiple areas.
- Major themes. Each curriculum strand is further
divided into major themes, e.g., Environments or Diversity.
- Questions. Questions are used to further define
major themes and focus activities.
- Unit development. From the major theme and the
questions, knowledge, and skills related to the concepts, teachers plan
activities that will lead to the development of knowledge and skills which will
answer the questions. Teachers also collect resources and develop actual lesson
plans and assessment strategies.
- Evaluation. Through an assessment of student
progress the unit is evaluated.
The findings
support the positive effects of curriculum integration. Lipson (1993)
summarizes the following findings (kathy lake said on her paper research) :
- Integrated
curriculum helps students apply skills.
- An
integrated knowledge base leads to faster retrieval of information.
- Multiple
perspectives lead to a more integrated knowledge base.
- Integrated
curriculum encourages depth and breadth in learning.
- Integrated
curriculum promotes positive attitudes in students.
- Integrated
curriculum provides for more quality time for curriculum exploration.
From this paper
mentioned there are the teacher and the student are interest in curicullum
integration.
"The
integrated curriculum is a great gift to experienced teachers. It's like getting
a new pair of lenses that make teaching a lot more exciting and help us look
forward into the next century. It is helping students take control of their own
learning".
-
M.
Markus, media specialist, quoted in Shoemaker, September 1991, p. 797
"I'm learning
more in this course, and I'm doing better than I used to do when social studies
and English were taught separately".
-
Student,
quoted in Oster 1993, p. 28
This teacher and
student express an increasingly widespread enthusiasm for curriculum
integration.While not necessarily a new way of looking at teaching, curriculum
integration has received a great deal of attention in educational settings.
Reference based on journal
Humphreys, A.; Post, T.; and Ellis, A. Interdisciplinary Methods: A Thematic Approach. Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear Publishing Company, 1981.
Lipson, M.; Valencia, S.; Wixson, K.; and Peters, C. "Integration and Thematic Teaching: Integration to Improve Teaching and Learning." Language Arts 70/4 (1993): 252-264.
Shoemaker, B. "Integrative Education: A Curriculum for the Twenty-First Century." Oregon School Study Council 33/2 (1989).
Source Link : http://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/integrated-curriculum.pdf