Running head: INTERDISCIPLINARY CURRICULUM 1

Content Knowledge in Interdisciplinary Curriculum

Hannah Miller

Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2019

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Introduction

As an elementary school teacher, designing and teaching different lessons for each

subject every day can be overwhelming, both for the teacher and for the students. In addition,

“Teaching students effectively requires coherence across subject areas rather than isolation”

(Duerr, 2008, p.174). Reading is done with math and social studies. Math and science are used

together consistently. All subjects can be taught in conjunction with other subjects. In a world

where standard based instruction is the norm, interdisciplinary instruction is imperative. It allows

the teacher to teach all the standards in a concise and coherent way. In addition, students are able

to become well-rounded in all subjects.

Rationale for Selection of Artifacts

For this objective I chose a lesson plan that I created that incorporates art, history,

reading, and writing SOLs. The lesson plan contains enough material to be spread over a couple

of weeks. It is a social studies based plan that introduces Ancient Greece using the reading of a

novel. The students also get to use art to create a pop-up of a historical figure that they choose to

do research on. While this lesson is based on the third grade curriculum, it could be modified to

fit nearly any social studies unit. The teacher need only to find a book that incorporates the

historical topic; all the other activities are based on art, reading, and writing skills. By

incorporating standards from multiple subjects, all students should be able to connect to the topic

at hand in different ways. This lesson plan demonstrates how a teacher could address multiple

standards in one engaging lesson plan.

For my second artifact, I chose a best practices handbook that I created in my Teaching

across Curriculum class. This handbook includes twenty strategies that can be used within the
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classroom in many facets. This includes graphic organizers and discussion strategies. In addition,

the handbook includes five books with relevant SOLs. This handbook provides resources for any

teacher in any subject. The majority of the graphic organizers can be used to incorporate multiple

subjects in one lesson, such as the Venn Diagram, which can be utilized to connect Language

Arts and any other subjects. This artifact shows how simple interdisciplinary instruction can be

when planned effectively.

Reflection on Theory and Practice

In my courses at Regent, I learned how effective interdisciplinary curriculum design can

be. Elementary school teachers have to create lesson plans based on curriculum that is given to

them. This can lead to lessons and days being disjointed – with each subject having its relegated

time and details. Students begin to view subjects as being isolated from each other, not realizing

that all subjects are intertwined within the classroom and in the real world. Completely

separating the subjects can be a dangerous practice. Students who do not use their reading skills

during social studies or their math skills in science are not able to fully understand the subjects.

Therefore, “Interdisciplinary curriculum experiences provide an opportunity for a more relevant,

less fragmented, and stimulating experience for students” (Jacobs, 2004, n. pag.). Students can

learn many things at once, without having to exert too much effort, if their teacher can provide

purposeful interdisciplinary lessons.

Students also need to realize that they will never be able to completely separate the

subjects they are learning. While working in a team teaching environment, I noticed that it is

nearly impossible to separate science and social studies from language arts, even though I was

not explicitly teaching language arts lessons. The students were learning facts about the Civil

War from their reading lessons before I had even begun the unit. They were able to contribute to
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the conversation because they were learning about the same topic in different classrooms. This

illustrates how, “Each subject area with its particular perspective and analytic framework

provides additional insight and understanding. Woven together, each contributes to the

illumination of the beautiful tapestry of man” (Troutman, 1977, p. 200). It was also important to

note that reading skills are increasingly important as the students progress through the grade

levels. Students who were not strong readers struggled with taking math and science assessments

because they could not understand the instructions or the questions. Combining disciplines

within the elementary school classroom occurs naturally, but is most effective when the teacher

purposefully uses the curriculum to design lessons that target many standards at once. These

lessons generate the greatest impact for students because they are able to seamlessly learn many

things at once.
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References

Duerr, L. L. (2008). Interdisciplinary instruction. Educational Horizons, 86(3), 173-180.

Jacobs, H. H. (2004). Interdisciplinary curriculum: Design and implementation. Moorabbin,

Vic.: Hawker Brownlow Education.

Troutman, B. I. (1977). An interdisciplinary approach to curriculum and instruction: From

purpose to method. The Clearing House, 50(5), 200-201.

doi:10.1080/00098655.1977.9956951