W12P1: Shortcomings of Current Curriculum

Traditional teaching practices that present subjects as separate and distinct disciplines do not encourage students to make connections between subjects in school and in the inherently interdisciplinary nature of their daily lives

a classroom-ready form requires collaboration between scientists, researchers, and teachers.

there is recognition of the need to shift pedagogical approaches beyond simply preparing students either to become future scientists or to pass standardized tests (Millar & Osborne, 1998) and move toward developing scientific literacy among all students (AAAS, 2006)

Innovative curriculum, especially when it encourages productive interdisciplinary experiences (Barab & Landa, 1997; Brandt, 1991), can engage students in ways that help them see science directly connected to their daily lives.

Efforts to include true interdisciplinary experiences in today’s schools face many obstacles: teachers as subject specialists, class time schedules, traditional school structures limiting teacher time for curriculum development or collaboration, and lack of understanding of interdisciplinary learning (King & Wiseman, 2001).

Rather than true interdisciplinary experiences, students usually participate instead in thematic or multidisciplinary approaches. In a case study that explored an interdisciplinary approach to history and visual arts, Dawes and Boix Mansilla (2007) described how interdisciplinary instruction should integrate domains, creating a new understanding.

In elementary schools, where there is potential for flexibility in scheduling, teachers still most often divide their instruction of subjects into separate time slots. When teachers specialize in a particular field, they may hesitate to expand from the comfort zone of their field of specialization.

Crow and Ponder (2000) suggest restructuring teacher involvement in multiple disciplines by promoting teacher teams—bringing together teachers with different areas of specialization and exposing one another to new content knowledge and instructional approaches.

There are many challenges in science education, especially at the elementary school level. Marx and Harris (2006) recognized the role of NCLB in developing the culture of standardized tests, which ultimately limited science time and impeded implementation of project based science curricula

 Important efforts in maintaining our nation’s leadership in science and technology should begin in elementary school (Bybee, 2007). The National Science Foundation has called for diversifying the pool of talented students entering the STEM pipeline as well as cultivating students’ capacity for interdisciplinary exploration (Langen & Dekkers, 2005).

Interdisciplinary approaches for including science in elementary school classrooms and maintaining the natural connections between science and other subject areas, including music, can address some of these challenges. It is also important for students to have a broad range of science thinking skills, including work with multimodal data sources. For example, students should have experience with auditory information and re-representing it using, for example, physical models, drawings, words, and musical notations (Barrett, 1997; Britsch, 2009; Harrison & Treagust, 1998; Shepardson & Britsch, 2001; Minogue, Wiebe, Madden, Bedward, & Carter, 2010).

Every classroom has students with a wide variety of ability levels and preferred learning modalities whose learning is enhanced when teachers illustrate natural, multimodal connections among concepts.

In summary, (1) Time was a challenge in lesson development and implementation. (2) Alignment with standards was a crucial component for teachers to accept the material, and (3) Technology access and implementation challenged the flow of implementation

described specialized knowledge and vocabulary as obstacles to interdisciplinary goals, leading teachers to emphasize singular facts over broad concepts.

One of the key components necessary to effect change is teacher acceptance of new concepts and strategies. Teachers’ beliefs regarding a teacher’s role in the classroom, beliefs about how students learn and about the attitudes toward curriculum impact their inclination to implement new curricula   
Interdisciplinary connections should be more easily implemented in elementary school than middle or high school; however, a number of obstacles remain. The emphasis on standards-based highstakes testing has resulted in diluted curricula at all levels, including elementary schools (Amrein & Berliner, 2002).

The pressure for teachers to focus on tested subjects and only tested topics within those subjects has watered down curriculum across the United States and impedes efforts to provide students with opportunities for science inquiry and exploration.

For new research to filter into schools, teachers need support from administrators, researchers, and parents, among others. Support includes time for professional development for learning new material, planning, and collaborating with researchers and other teachers

An acknowledgment of standards alignment and technology support will also benefit education reform, justifying teachers’ perceptions of interdisciplinary curriculum as meeting multiple discipline and standards based goals rather than “fitting in” to their already full school schedules

The implementation of innovative and interdisciplinary curriculum in elementary school is a collaborative process, which requires administrative support, infrastructure support, and a willingness to explore new ways of knowing (Driver, Asoko, Leach, Mortimer, & Scott, 1994).