English Academic Purpose II

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