Making Integrated Curriculum Work in the Digital Environment

This post, and the associated video, are a part of my Original Contribution for my capstone course in my Masters of Education in Integrated Curriculum program through the American College of Education. Included are a video and a written script to accompany the video for accessibility purposes.

Making Integrated Curriculum Work in the Digital Environment

Hello! I am Morgan Patton, and I go by @thatphysicslady. This video is going to walk you through some of the basics of curriculum integration and how we can still pursue curriculum integration in the virtual or hybrid classroom. 

To begin, we need to settle on a definition for curriculum integration, as a common vocabulary is key to being able to share thoughts and understandings. When we speak of curriculum integration, we are speaking of the interweaving of different disciplines so that students’ learning is more cohesive, allowing students to more readily incorporate new information into their existing structural schema and allow more mental pathways for students to access knowledge. Ideally, an integrated curriculum presents a problem or series of problems that can and should be addressed from a variety of vantage points across the curricular spectrum. Sometimes, it is simply enough for lessons across siloed disciplines to follow a common theme, but in the best cases, disciplines overlap and intermingle in the solving of an authentic problem like those that students will eventually encounter in their professional lives.

There are four main frameworks for curriculum integration, and it is important that we discuss them before going any further on our quest. The most basic form is the intradisciplinary framework. As its name suggests, this is integration within a particular subject or discipline. This takes the form of adding elements of another discipline to the instruction within a particular course without interaction between disciplinary instructors.The next step in integration is the multidisciplinary framework. In the multidisciplinary approach, students focus on an overarching theme, but the overarching theme is secondary to disciplinary knowledge. Disciplines are viewed as primary, and standards are of high importance. Often, there is still some disconnect between the disciplinary lessons, and this prevents students from reaching full potential for integration. There is slight bridging between the disciplines, but not enough for serious collaboration to be effective. The interdisciplinary pathway is much more effective a pathway than any of the previous options. This is because the skills that are taught in each class complement each other well, allowing students to collaborate on all aspects of a project. Drake says that in the interdisciplinary pathway, disciplines “chunk together the common learnings embedded in the disciplines to emphasize interdisciplinary skills and concepts.The disciplines are identifiable, but they assume less importance than in the multidisciplinary approach” (p. 12). In this case, this allows the disciplines to work more cohesively than other models. The transdisciplinary pathway is the pinnacle of curriculum integration. In this pathway, the divisions between disciplines are blurred or disappear entirely. Students drive their own understanding, and instructors become partners in learning with their students. This is a much messier learning process, and it is hard to determine exactly what the outcome will be, but it provides a more lifelike learning experience for students. Based upon brain-based learning theories, this type of learning is the most effective means of developing knowledge and skills.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle is credited with saying “ For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” While this may seem like an odd transition, it actually fits well with the idea of integration, and specifically with the goals of the transdisciplinary pathway. Often, the things that we need to accomplish in a course, due to standards and testing and other outside pressures, make us feel that we don’t have the time for integration, but, through integration, students are able to learn these things. The idea that increasing the number of standards that teachers address in their classrooms, which may or may not occur depending on the efficiency of the model of integration used in a particular location, will result in a lack of depth comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of the process of integration. Integrated curriculum looks very different from traditional curriculum in that a number of standards from multiple disciplines can be covered simultaneously without sacrificing time or depth. This occurs because of the natural flow of learning in an integrated environment that allows for students to gain skills and competencies in multiple areas as they complete authentic educational experiences. Of course, there is a large amount of lead time inherent in curriculum integration in order to make these experiences seem natural, but this is well worth it for student success.

Montgomery and Griffin (2017) illustrate the importance of authenticity and connections in answering the “when will I ever use this” question asked so typically by tying learning to careers and real-life situations. Effectively, students who are subjected to coursework that is reflective of life and work circumstances are more motivated and open to learning. They are more likely to seek out new knowledge on their own, work collaboratively with others, and recall what they have learned far after the project is complete. While this can be difficult enough in the face-to-face classroom, where students are able to build, manipulate, and literally put their heads together, it can seem nearly impossible to recreate in the virtual environment. Nevertheless, if we want to provide students with the best educational experiences possible, we will need to find ways to do so.

Just as in any other educational environment, the first step in curriculum integration is to analyze the learning environment. This does not mean simply looking at the student population, but also the surrounding community and the needs of local businesses and organizations. Often, by looking into community needs, ideas and plans for integration show up naturally. This is the same in the virtual or hybrid classroom. In such a situation, the needs of the community can spark ideas for problems that need to be solved. Then, instructors and students can brainstorm potential solutions for the problems, with instructors paying particular attention to how standards can be applied to the learning and solution process. Then, the solutions can be implemented. This can allow for following any of the integration frameworks, depending on the appropriate level of integration for the constraints on students and faculty. In the time of social distancing and virtual learning, constraints will be greater and require more flexibility and creativity on the part of instructors, but it is still possible. Once the integration plans have been developed, they can be implemented. The implementation process might not always be smooth, so adaptability is just as important here as it is anywhere else in the process.

When it comes to integrating in the virtual or hybrid learning environment, there are a few special considerations that need to be taken into account. First, any integration pathway requires that instructors be able to have the time and space to work together. Even in the intradisciplinary model, instructors should be checking with colleagues to make sure that content and presentation across subjects are consistent. While, theoretically, it should be easier for instructors to work together in the virtual environment because they may be spending less time in front of students, this is not always the reality, especially in hybrid environments where instructors are responsible for both instructing in front of some students and providing virtual instruction for others simultaneously. Of course, in more developed virtual learning environments, the demands on the teacher decrease, but this does not mean that the instructor has a wealth of time for colleague collaboration. Time must be intentionally built into the day or week for instructor collaboration. It must also be built into whatever learning management system is being used that teachers are able to “co-teach” courses that will have integrative approaches that border on multidisciplinary or transdisciplinary.

Beyond this, traditional projects and products may not be a possibility for the virtual environment, and it will be important to consider virtual alternatives. While students may be unable to build a model or prototype for a product, they may be able to create a model in a drafting program or create a video to explain or promote a potential project. These solutions can actually be cost-effective in any educational environment, and do a wonderful job of including new media into the classroom. This ensures that students are still able to work near the top of Bloom’s taxonomy, ensuring that they are building the critical thinking skills touted by Aviles (2000).

There is a misconception that students who are working digitally or remotely are always working alone. While this is often the model utilized in virtual learning environments, it does not have to be. It is important, when implementing authentic integrated curriculum, that collaborative tools are utilized as much as possible. This can look like students having regular video conferencing meetings, working on cloud-based platforms that allow instructors to work simultaneously and add comments and questions on each others’ work. Another model of this may be like the online gaming model, where students work together in a shared platform while speaking to each other as though they were in the same location.

This type of collaboration opens the door to enriching education further, as it allows for the inclusion of experts and community members in the learning environment. Ferreira, Grueber, and Yarema (2012) show that increasing community involvement in any curriculum, but especially integrated curriculum, increases student outcomes, student and community buy-in, and the longevity and efficacy of a program. You even have the option of bringing experts into your virtual classroom through video conference to provide students with expertise or to act as mentors.

There are a wealth of resources available, and a large variety of projects that you can implement in your classroom in order to give students the best educational experience possible. What will your integrated learning look like?

References & Credits

Aviles, C. B. (2000). Teaching and testing for critical thinking with Bloom’s Taxonomy of educational objectives. ERIC Database.

Drake, S. M., & Burns, R. C. (2004). Meeting standards through integrated curriculum. ASCD.

Ferreira, M. M., Grueber, D., & Yarema, S. (2012). A Community Partnership to Facilitate Urban Elementary Students' Access to the Outdoors. School Community Journal, 22(1), 49-64.

Montgomery, M. S., & Griffin, P. (2017). Mathematics Career Carnival: Integration of Content, Pedagogy, and Authentic Learning. The Field Experience Journal, 20, 19-25.

Stock footage provided by Videvo, downloaded from www.videvo.net

Presentation template by SlidesCarnival | Illustrations by Sergei Tikhonov | Photographs by Unsplash

Music by Pictures of the Floating World, downloaded from www.freemusicarchive.org