Running head: CONTENT KNOWLEDGE IN INTERDISCIPLINARY CURRICULUM 1

Content Knowledge in Interdisciplinary Curriculum

Lyssa Heath
Regent University

In partial fulfillment of requirements of UED 495, Fall 2019

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Introduction
With the amount of information that teachers are required to teach, and students

need to learn, it is vital that teachers become familiar with interdisciplinary curriculum and

implement it in the classroom routinely. Interdisciplinary curriculum involves combining two or

more content areas in one high quality lesson that enables student development in both areas.

Pountney and McPhail (2017) explain, “At all levels, from primary to tertiary, it is promoted as

an approach that can enhance and enrich learning and knowledge production by bringing two or

more disciplines together.” Using this approach allows content to be covered more thoroughly as

well as enables to students to make connections between lessons and across domains.

Rationale

For my first artifact, I included a small group reading lesson plan that focused on using

context clues to find the meaning of unfamiliar words. To incorporate our Virginia Studies

Content, I used an article that discussed the hardships at Jamestown and had several unfamiliar

words in it. After reading through the article as a group, the students went through and

highlighted words that they did not know the meaning of. This was interesting since several of

these words had been covered in our previous day’s lesson but were still unfamiliar to students.

This article then gave them the chance to further connect with the material. Next, the student had

to search for the parts of the IDEAS strategy (inference, definition, examples, antonyms, or

synonyms) that helped them figure out the meaning of the word.

For my second artifact, I include sample student work for the above lesson. The students

used a graphic organizer to write down the unfamiliar word and then wrote down what they

believed the definition to be based on the context. There also is a box for them to mark what
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IDEAS strategy they used. Most of the students filled the first page and had one or two on the

back, although the sample work only includes the first page.

Reflection of Theory and Practice

Integrating curriculum across lessons is critical as students become more inundated with

material. Teacher need to be aware as they are designing lessons, however that they are not

trying to include too many topics that the lesson become ineffective. Burton (2001) addresses,

“…the potpourri problem (i.e., random samplings of knowledge, lack of focus, and absence of

structures of knowledge).” If too much information is built into a lesson, students receive only a

shallow perspective instead of a deeper understanding. As students work through material, they

need to make connections between skills they are learning and real-world problems. This is not

possible if the integration is not focused and crafted to support this. Mihaela Draghicescu,

Gorghiu Monica Gorghiu, and Petrescu (2013) explains that “integration means the organizing,

the connection of the school disciplines, with the purpose of avoiding their traditional isolation;

integration also means the process and the result of the process through which the pupil

interprets the subject that is transmitted, starting from his life experience and from the

knowledge he already got hold of.” When done effectively, interdisciplinary lessons not only

allow students to cover more content at a deeper level, but also enable them to make real-world

connections across domains.

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References

Burton, L. H. (2001). Interdisciplinary Curriculum: Retrospect and Prospect. Music Educators

Journal, 87(5), 17. https://doi-org.ezproxy.regent.edu/10.2307/3399703

Mihaela Draghicescu, L., Gorghiu, G., Monica Gorghiu, L., & Petrescu, A.-M. (2013). Pleading

for an Integrated Curriculum. Journal of Science & Arts, 13(1), 89–95. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.regent.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&A

N=87641703&site=ehost-live

Pountney, R., & McPhail, G. (2017). Researching the interdisciplinary curriculum: The need for

“translation devices.” British Educational Research Journal, 43(6), 1068–1082.

https://doi-org.ezproxy.regent.edu/10.1002/berj.3299