Interdisciplinary connections: crossing boundaries and making connection

So here is a bubb.us map of my current interdisciplinary connections.  My future goal is to further develop the (magenta) connections of the HOD's of all of the learning areas at school to attempt to develop an "interdisciplinary way of thinking" along the lines of the Ross Spiral Curriculum from the video.

There is no denying the need for interdisciplinary and innovative teaching models to help our students develop the skills of critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and effective communication which we know they will need to be effective members of a more globally connected future workforce.  The challenge, of course, is to implement these authentic, real life, complex problem solving activities into the currently siloed curriculum and timetable structure of a high school.

Dr Deana McDonagh, Associate Professor from the University of Illinois explained simply that interdisciplinary studies "help students see the world more holistically rather than myopically."  This analogy resonates with me, I like the idea that each traditional subject area can be used as a lens through which students can view an aspect of an overarching theme, idea or complex problem.  I do think it can help students develop a greater global understanding or appreciation.  I see benefits for teachers as well - there is no better way to develop empathy and understanding of different subject area than looking at things from another teacher's point of view.  The idea of becoming "connected experts" rather than subject experts.

We are lucky at my current school to have been given a mandate to review the current curriculum and timetable structure.  The push has come from staff so we now have the opportunity to explore and research other options.  We have trialed aspects of the interdisciplinary model with our end of year, two week duration, "passion projects" and "big idea" groups.  The timetable is collapsed and the morning is devoted to students following an inquiry of their own choice, examples range from exploring 3D printing by constructing a printer; creating a travel website for teenagers, researching and building a bird feeder to encourage native birds into the school environment; right through to learning how to surf.  Individual staff mentor small groups of students with similar areas of interest.  The afternoon session is then a group project around a "big idea" an example of which have bee "How can we make a difference?"  The interdisciplinary opportunities in this model have been plenty, this challenge is now how can we move to a more in-depth approach which spans more than two weeks and involves senior students as well?

Mathison & Freeman (1997) identified interdisciplinary studies as a "stepping stone" towards Integrated (inquiry orientated, global issue driven) and then Iterative (theme driven but student and teachers partner in the curriculum design).  The reason it is considered a good place to start is that it "disturbs the current structure the least, so is more likely to be accepted."  So my goal is to work with the HOD's of all the curriculum areas to develop an integrated approach to the curriculum design specifically at the year 10 level.

Why year 10?  Two reasons, it is "pre" the senior school and from a current timetable point of view, all core subjects are blocked. 

Reasons we should be successful:

• Staff and students are familiar with thematic driven curriculum even though it has only been for 2 weeks periods.
• We currently have 8 out of a total of 28 staff who are completing the Mindlab PG course.
• There are less timetabling constraints because of the blocking of core "subjects."
• A culture of innovation is supported and being "future focused" for our students is one of 4 strategic priorities.

Potential problems:

• Although year 10 is "pre" the senior school we currently offer a lot of NCEA credits across a number of subject areas.
• Our school community have been very satisfied with the high rates of endorsement passes of our students so may be unwilling to welcome change.

So, is it worth the extra time, effort and no doubt, drama to pursue this plan?  Absolutely!  We owe it to our students to help develop the skills they are going to need rather than just provide the knowledge content of  each subject in isolation.  By teachers also having to experience it, students should be able to view the world through a variety of perspectives, as as Ian Dukes so succinctly put it:

Reference

Mathison,S.&Freeman, M. (1997). The logic of interdisciplinary studies.  Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, 1997.  Retrieved from http://www.albany.edu/cela/reports/mathisonlogic12004.pdf: