Deepening Learning Through Interdisciplinary Instruction
“Interdisciplinary: a knowledge view and curriculum approach that consciously applies methodology and language from more than one discipline to examine a central theme, topic, issue, problem or work.“
-- Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Executive Director of the Curriculum Mapping Institute
The value of Interdisciplinary educational instruction is dynamic. By connecting different subject disciplines around shared themes and “big ideas”, students are encouraged to make meaningful real-world connections that emphasize collaboration, critical thinking, inquiry, and creativity. As Head of Interdisciplinary Studies (7–12), I’ve had the opportunity to chat with Middle and Upper School teachers about how they integrate interdisciplinary practices into classroom practice. I’d like to share a very recent example from Middle School.
While away at Camp Manitou during the first week of school, the Grade 7 students were introduced to our central theme of sustainability, and its connecting ideas of interdependence and stewardship. We had campfire chats about creating a socially sustainable environment in our Mentor Groups and being good stewards within the Middle School. The boys worked collaboratively towards solving a world problem in an art workshop, and we learned about how all parts of an ecosystem are interdependent on one another during the “Survival Game”.
These “big ideas” are recurring and central to the Ministry of Education’s expectations in Science and Social Studies. They also clearly reflect our essential character qualities of Engaged Citizenship and Positive Leadership. Recently, these expectations were synthesized into a combined project in Grade 7 English, Science, and Canadian and World Citizenship (CWC). The boys were tasked with creating a children’s picture book on sustainability. It was to be set in a Canadian community that had unique physical and human interactions with the environment and students were given a research package with guiding questions that challenged them to take their learnings from Science (Life Systems) and CWC (Geographic Interaction) to the next level. They paired their research findings with their literacy skills in English to develop the various elements of their children's books. Students created a parental resource for the Science component to accompany the novel which focused on the key scientific terms and concepts. For the CWC component, the boys were grouped according to the physical region of Canada that their story highlighted and instructed to create a presentation aimed at securing publishing funds from “green investors” for the series of books their group produced for their chosen ecological region.
Under the umbrella of sustainability, the boys (and teachers) were able to break down the walls between disciplines to deepen learning. Though the assessment crossed three curricular areas, the instruction and approach to the project were done in a “de-siloed” manner. Our amazing teachers trusted the process (Di Vincenzo, Weldon, Camacho, Lee, Spencer, Cridland and Nunes). They shared their class time over two weeks to allow for these learning products to manifest and diligently tracked each student's progress.
We look forward to building on this model and “clipping on” other disciplines in the ensuing iterations of this learning block. Mathematics, the Arts, PhysEd/Health, and Languages are all subjects that can participate in this model of instruction.
In the end, the boys demonstrated growth in the skills essential for the 21st century. They collaborated, inquired and researched independently, and used critical thinking skills to solve problems and communicate about them with creativity. Most importantly, they deepened the learning of each discipline’s content through this Interdisciplinary mode of instruction.
