Making Connections: Interdisciplinary Units and the LEARNING-FOCUSED Model

Toni Enloe
Apr 27, 2009

Interdisciplinary, Thematic, Integrated, and Parallel Units are terms that have been used to describe the instructional practice of helping students make connections by weaving the curriculum standards between or among several subjects. Though there are subtle differences among the different types of unit designs, all focus on making learning relevant and challenging through active engagement and interaction with peers and teachers.

Interdisciplinary units have long been used in middle schools to engage and challenge all students and can be a viable option at all levels. When well planned they offer both motivation for students and multiple opportunities for differentiation. When coupled with a service learning project the learning becomes enhanced providing a more meaningful learning experience for students.

The idea of curriculum integration appeared during an Eight-Year Study of progressive schools during the 1930s. A study of more than 30 experimental high schools where curriculum integration was the focus revealed that students were at least as well, if not better prepared than their counterparts for college work. By the time the report was published in 1942, the US had greater concerns and the idea of curriculum integration was temporarily lost. A more complete summary of the study can be found at the following link:  http://www.8yearstudy.org/projectintro.html. More recently the idea of curriculum integration has become a focus for middle schools. As one of the seven design elements in Turning Points 2000, Jackson and Davis stress the importance of teaching a curriculum "grounded in standards, relevant to adolescents' concerns and based on how students learn best. " The Interdisciplinary Unit may be used in either a self contained setting or an interdisciplinary team. Either way the IDU lends itself to authentic assessment. The Learning-Focused model addresses all points as students work through the three levels of learning.

> Why add a service learning component? According to the National Commission on Service Learning, service-learning projects: (www.servicelearning.org)

  • Link to academic content and standards

  • Involve students in helping to determine and meet real, defined community needs

  • Are reciprocal in nature, benefiting both the recipient and the student by combining the service experience with powerful and meaningful learning experiences

  • Provide meaningful opportunities for the application of learning

  • Can be used in any subject area as long as it is appropriate to the learning goal

  • Work at all ages

> What is not true about service learning

  • A one time volunteer activity

  • An add-on to the existing school curriculum

  • Logging community service hours as a graduation requirement

  • Only for high school and college students

  • One-sided:  benefits only the community or the student

> How do we plan a successful Interdisciplinary Unit? Several questions must be considered when planning a Standards-Driven Interdisciplinary Unit with a service learning component:

  • What are the goals? (Using a K-U-D organizer what do we want students to know, understand, be able to do, and value?)

  • Will service help achieve those goals and if so, how?

  • What disciplines are a "best fit" for integration in this unit?

  • What learning opportunities and materials will we make available to students?

  • How will we differentiate?

  • How will we know if the students are successful?

> What causes units to fail? It is important to remember that not all subjects may integrate well for particular units. Finding the natural fit is important to the success of the unit. Effective Interdisciplinary Units require time and commitment. There may be several factors contributing to failure:

  • Lack of thoughtful and adequate planning

  • Unit too long and students bored

  • Lack of relevance for students

  • Activities unrelated or connections not made

  • Flow of instruction not smooth

  • All team members not committed

  • Poor scheduling

> How does this fit into the Learning-Focused Planning model?

Steps in the Design of a Learning-Focused Interdisciplinary Unit:

  1. Identify the topic, theme or concept.

  2. Rank the standards for each discipline.

  3. Look for overlapping concepts, questions and skills that are a natural overlap, not forced.

  4. Using the K-U-D Organizer, identify what you want students to know, understand and be able to do.

  5. Identify how you will assess student understanding. Will this be a good unit for a service component?

  6. Identify the learning activities that will be used and complete the Student Learning Map.

  7. Determine how you will differentiate the tasks for student diversity.

A group of 8th grade teachers decided to design an Interdisciplinary Unit with a service-learning component that centered around the impact of a major river on their town. Their service learning goal was to have students design and conduct a walking tour for 3rd grade students who studied local history. During the planning phase, they spent a considerable amount of time trying to make all of the subjects fit. After evaluating standards, skills, and concepts, they finally decided that the "best fits" for this topic would be social studies, science and language arts. Using the K-U-D organizer (see example) they identified some the major concepts and skills.

Teachers then discussed how they would assess student learning throughout the unit and what experiences students would need to achieve their goals. These were put in the form of a Student Learning Map (see example). In this example all three subjects' essential questions appear on one Student Learning Map, but each subject could have separate Student Learning Maps.

All students completed the historical research, scientific investigations and all of the public speaking and writing activities across disciplines, but the tasks were differentiated by interests. Some students chose to write scripts, some chose to design an informative coloring book for 3rd graders and others became tour guides.

Once the four week unit was completed, both students and teachers reflected on the experience. Students indicated that they had not only learned about the history of the river and how it contributed to the development of the town but also about how the river had changed and continued to change. The following summer, students who had been tour guides volunteered to give visiting students from Ireland a tour of the river.

 


While planning interdisciplinary units can be time consuming, the benefits for both students and teachers outweigh the headaches. They give teachers an opportunity to carefully examine content standards, plan collaboratively and tap their own creativity while giving students the opportunity to become successful learners through a series of integrated experiences.

For more information about differentiation check out Learning-Focused Differentiated Assignments K-5 or Differentiated Assignments 6-12 in the Catching Kids Up collection or join us in a Summer Institute on Sustaining Exemplary Practices workshop.