Interdisciplinary Education in Comprehensive School: Can a Deep Understanding Occur?

Autor/inn/en	Andersson, Sonja; Bergstrom-Nyberg, Susanne; Dumbrajs, Martina; Dumbrajs, Sivbritt; Martelin, Victoria; Westerlund, Tove
Titel	Interdisciplinary Education in Comprehensive School: Can a Deep Understanding Occur?
Quelle	7 (2010) 9, S.34-46 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1548-6613
Schlagwörter	Interdisciplinary Approach; Integrated Curriculum; Problem Solving; Group Activities; Foreign Countries; Art; Religion; Biology; Native Language Instruction; History Instruction; Physics; Science Instruction; Home Economics; Mathematics Instruction; Geography Instruction; Chemistry; Second Language Instruction; Finland + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Fächerübergreifender Unterricht; Fächerverbindender Unterricht; Interdisziplinarität; Problemlösen; Gruppenaktivität; Ausland; Arts; Kunst; Biologie; Native language education; Muttersprachlicher Unterricht; History lessons; Geschichtsunterricht; Physik; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Hauswirtschaft; Hauswirtschaftslehre; Mathematics lessons; Mathematikunterricht; Geography education; Geography lessons; Geografieunterricht; Chemie; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Finnland
Abstract	The authors investigate how an integrative approach can be applied to teaching of different disciplines at school. Interdisciplinarity can be defined as a process of answering a question, solving a problem or addressing a topic that is too broad to be dealt with by a single discipline. In addition to an integrated understanding of the topic, the process going on inside the learner interests the authors. Unsuspected abilities, development of new views of the world and new commitment may emerge. Constructivism and narration, together with the socio-cultural theory of learning, form the background of the teaching and learning processes. The curriculum will integrate between subjects and recommends work in small groups to develop students' social capacities. The collaborative problem-solving approach, while including telling and re-telling features, allows students of natural sciences to hypothesize and test hypotheses using scientific methods. The target audience of this paper is class teachers and subject teachers in comprehensive schools (Grades 1-9). The research questions are: Do students that undergo integrative education work think and problem-solve in different ways compared to when partaking in standard instruction? Can they develop a deep understanding of the topic they are studying? The authors plan to present story re-telling and visualization activities in groups concerning one theme: eggs. The topic covers arts, foreign languages, mathematics and science. Such an approach strengthens students' understanding of the disciplines themselves. It is hoped that this work can be useful for teachers that are interested in giving their students a more holistic view of their life world. (Contains 3 tables and 7 figures.) (As Provided).
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10