Why Integrated Curriculum?
Traditional subject based curriculum taught in schools provide little or no connections with each other. As a result, students are often confused since they are not able to put the pieces of the 'puzzle' together to see the whole picture. This fragmentation can limit the ease with which students can make connections necessary for deep and sustained understanding (Murdock, 2007). Integrated Curriculum in principle, designing curriculum that relates content and process, minimises this unnecessary fragmentation. There are many reasons why it is benefitial for Mount Rushmore to implement a integrated curriculum approach:
All work is done by Alan Nguy 299 967
- Students are central to the planning process. They are seen as 'active' members in creating a curriculum that is relevant and meaningful for them
- Integrates all of children's knowledge which makes their knowledge more accessible and meaningful
- Caters for different learning styles as students are given the opportunity to apply their understandings through a variety of forms (visual, kinesthetic, musical, mathematical etc.)
- Emphasises the relationship between content subjects (subjects that dealt with understanding the physical and social words such as science and social education) and process subjects (subjects that give students skills to gather skills, organise information and express understanding such as English and Mathematics)
- Allows for the achievement of many outcomes from some or all learning areas in a single unit of work
- Open-ended, incorporates aspects of problem solving and encourages high levels of student freedom
- Engages students in generating, exploring and responding to questions through integrative thinking
- Encourages working collaboratively within learning communities to grapple with big ideas and to clarify student values
- Using the Inquiry Based Learning model to integrate the curriculum supports students in moving from the known to the unknown through concrete and open-ended activities
- Children's prior knowledge and understandings are also valued and used
- Encourages students to reflect on their learning
- Integrates self and social issues that effect our children's future and challenged knowledge that is important to everyday life
- Planned around problems and issues that are of personal and social significance in the real world
- Creates a student-teacher partnership in learning and planning
- Links to VELS and current educational theories
All work is done by Alan Nguy 299 967
