Katie Miller

Goal Update #1

6/1/15

1.) http://www.citejournal.org/vol8/iss4/mathematics/article1.cfm
2.) http://www.education.com/reference/article/integrates-science-mathematics/
3.) peer.tamu.edu/The%20Value%20of%20Integration2.ppt
4.) http://www.edutopia.org/integrated-studies-introduction
5.) http://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/integrated-curriculum.pdf

These are various articles that I have read on integrating content into mathematics
or mathematics into other content areas. The first article talks about integrating
technology and mathematics. This is a good idea because technology influences
what is taught and also helps to enhance the students learning. This article has
really opened my eyes to new ideas on how to integrate technology into
mathematics and why it is important for technology to be used in conjunction with
other content.
The second article talks about integrating science and mathematics. While most
schools tend to keep the content areas separate I feel that it would be more
beneficial to the students to learn the content in an integrated way because in our
daily lives we do not necessarily encounter something in which we use only math or
science or language art but we tend to use them in conjunction with each other.
While I can see that sometimes there is the need to focus specifically on one
content area in general I believe that the students would gain more knowledge and
understanding if the material was taught in a more realistic way.
The third article is a power point that was put together at Texas A & M on
integrating content areas. I really enjoyed reading this power point because it
provides ideas a how to start and the necessary steps to get this learning style
implemented into schools by starting out in a single grade and then as it becomes
successful start implementing it into more grades until the entire school is teaching
in an integrated way.
The fourth article talks about how creativity, adaptability, critical reasoning, and
collaboration are highly valued skills and that when it comes to fostering these
skills in the classroom, integrated study is an extremely effective approach, helping
students develop multifaceted expertise and grasp the important role
interrelationships can play in the real world (Edutopia). I think this article has a lot
of great information as for why it is necessary to integrate the content when we are
teaching it, we do not live our lives in sections where we only look at math issues,
or science issues at that one specific time but we live in an integrated world where
we experience multiple things at a time.
The fifth and last article talks about the different ways that content can be taught
and explains the advantages and disadvantages of teaching in certain ways such as
fragmented, nested, webbed, integrated, immersed and networked. While there are
advantages and disadvantages for each of these and the others that were listed the

Katie Miller
Goal Update #1

6/1/15

common overall disadvantages of all of them but integrated confusion, narrowed

focus, connections not being made and disciplines remain separate. The
disadvantage listed for integrated is Requires interdepartmental teams with
common planning and teaching time; this may be difficult but it can be done. In
most schools that I have been in the entire grade follows the same schedule.
All of these articles have helped me to completely wrap my mind around integrating
and helped me to understand the best and most logical ways to approach and
implement this into my classroom.