As a future teacher I am constantly thinking about
the best ways to structure my curriculum to provide the best opportunities for
my students. Interdisciplinary curriculum is becoming more and more relevant in
the 21st century learning styles and is a style of teaching that I
find very interesting. Interdisciplinary curriculum integrates concepts from
different disciplines to make a synthesized whole in which many areas of study
are considered (Drake, Reid, & Kolohon, 2014). There are several ways to do
this but one of the best ways is through transdisciplinary curriculum. Transdisciplinary
curriculum means going beyond the curriculum and planning with student interests
and real world contexts rather than curriculum outcomes (Drake et al., 2014). Once
a relevant theme is established teacher and students work together to decide
what curriculum expectations fit their theme best. Since it is a real world
context, many subjects are easily incorporated because a variety of ideas and
skills are being implemented (Drake et al., 2014). Transdisciplinary curriculums
include topics such as world hunger, gender inequality, and many other global
issues. For example a question that could guide a transdisciplinary curriculum
could be “why do some people in our community not have enough food? How can we
change this?”. I wish that I had received this kind of education when I was in
school. I feel like many teachers use the curriculum as the almighty guide for
lessons and student expectations when sometimes the material is not relevant to
the student’s lives. When teachers ask students questions like “what concerns
you about yourself and the world around you?” they will be surprised by the immense
awareness and knowledge students have about the world. Children are not little
machines that you deposit information into. They think, have ideas and most of
all care about the world around them and are interested in making change.
For Transdisciplinary curriculum a big idea acts as the overarching theme that leads the inquiry process
Retrieved from http://www.greenwichschools.org/page.cfm?p=6697
To
keep things in line with curriculum development, transdisciplinary curriculums
have a very distinct set of know, do and be expectations. Learning to know
involves making connections, adapting to changes and knowing how to learn new
material. Learning to do involves performance tasks that demonstrate the
ability to apply knowledge in a creative manner (Transdisciplinary Learning,
2006). Finally learning to be involves making connections on a local and global
scale as well as being on a life-long journey of self-discovery
(Transdisciplinary Learning, 2006). I thought I should include this information
because it exhibits how possible a transdisciplinary curriculum is to implement.
It seems a major risk to leave students to decide what the unit of study should
be but through this KDB it is clear this curriculum is designed to implement
many valuable skills that can used in the future.
A
great way implement a transdisciplinary curriculum is through project-based
learning. In this, students tackle a local problem in the community with the guidance
of their teachers (Drake & Burns, 2004). Teachers and students select a
topic of study based on student interests, curriculum and local resources as a
first step. Then the teacher works with the students to determine what they
already know about the problem and help them generate questions and resources
to tackle the problem. Finally, students share their work in a culminating activity
where they share their results with the class and discuss strategies (Drake
& Burns, 2004). Project-based learning has been proven to be extremely
effective in that students are more attentive, ask open ended questions, make
connections between curriculum and real-world events, and are generally more
excited about school and the material that is being covered. I think in my
future classroom I will have project-based learning activities in my classroom
as it will help me have a transdisciplinary classroom. Using project based
learning to help them environment would be useful in the Canadian context. Canada
is known for its environmental beauty but pollution is slowly destroying it. As
a project-based learning activity students could visit a local pond, forest,
lake etc. and determine how they could use local resource to clean it up.
Students would be making connections with the community and the real world
through this form of curriculum which is knowledge that they will hold onto for
a life time. I hope that this is a form of learning that other educators will
use in the future because it’s really valuable J
Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARXs2cpzY3c
If you want to see a good example of transdisciplinary curriculum watch this video! It's really cool to see all these ideas come together in a real classroom!
References
Transdisciplinary Learning. (2006). Retrieved November
4, 2015 from: http://www.greenwichschools.org/page.cfm?p=6697
Drake, S., & Burs, R. (2004). What is Integrated
Curriculum? In Meeting standards through
integrated curriculum. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development.
Drake,
S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21st
Century Learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteI like how you introduced your topic and defined transdisciplinary curriculum. I think having students answer real world problem not only makes learning more interesting and relevant for students but it also increased their realistic problem solving skills and will make them critical thinkers. I agree that adults would be surprised what their students know about what’s going on around them. One morning in my grade 12 philosophy class, our teacher came in and told us that he wasn't going to be following his lesson plan today. He was visibly upset when he showed us a video he has seen that morning. It was a surveillance video of a small girl being run over by a car in a parking garage and no one coming to help her. The video was very disturbing, sad and thought provoking. We spent the rest of the class talking about the video. This is an example from my educational experience where we talked about real world problems and although we could not do anything about what had happened, we were aware of world events. I liked how you talked about how you would integrate transdisciplinary curriculum into classrooms, as this was one of our critiques in past weeks.
Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteI think that transdisciplinary learning is a great way to structure the curriculum as it provides opportunities for all different types of learners. I think that integrating information from different subjects into a more holistic lesson is a better way for students to learn as it is more likely to play on more students strengths and it also gives the opportunity to better draw from students interests. I would agree with you that it is important for teachers to plan their lessons around students interests and real world experiences as it makes subject matter more relevant to each student as an individual and therefore students are more likely to focus their attention on the lesson presented.
I think that you integrated the know, do and be into your blog well as it shows the relevancy to transdisciplinary curriculum as well as shows the ease of implementing it. It also shows that with transdisciplinary learning the students are not in total control of the curriculum but that their input is considered and their wonders are addressed throughout learning.
I think that your example of project based learning as a way to use transdiciplinary learning is perfect. Project based learning allows students to incorporate their interests into their learning as well as see what they are learning in their community which shows its relevancy. I have worked in a classroom that uses project based learning as a way to teach and a way to assess. In this class the students went on a nature walk through their community and discussed everything they observed (e.g. plants, animals, sounds) as they would be writing a journal about it when they returned to class Throughout this walk each student was asked to collect aspects of nature that they would later use in an art project. Through this project based learning curriculum from many subjects was implemented with real-world relevancy as well as student interest. I think that it is important for teachers to work to incorporate more lessons with structure similar to this.
Thanks for sharing your teaching strategies with us! I have found your blogs very interesting and hope to implement some of these strategies in the future.
I liked your blog this week! I think it was very relevant to becoming a teacher as we are in the process of trying to figure out what kind of teacher we are going to be and how to implement everything we have been learning about in our classes. I full agree with your statement that ‘children are not little machines to deposit information into’. Learning defiantly is about the connection and adaptability of the information. But similarly to what you stated, it is the teacher’s job in the classroom to work with the students to help them determine what they already know and to be the guide to find the resources to tackle the problem.
ReplyDeleteI valued that you wrote your blog on a topic that seems so hard to comprehend, but after reading your blog I have a much better and clearer understanding of what is involved in transdisciplinary learning. Going beyond the curriculum outcomes that are expected is a daunting task for any teacher candidate, but I think that you seem to have a strong grasp on how you are going to implement this into your classroom! Awesome work!
My question when considering transdisciplinary learning how can we accommodate all learning styles? In an integrated classroom, there are children of all skill levels. Some students take a while to understand a concept, and other speed through information quickly. Do you think it would be beneficial for the students to work individual, work in groups where the students are at the same skill/ working level, or would you integrate them together?