integration of science, mathematics, and technology in a discipline-based culture, The

School Science and Mathematics, Oct 1998 by Venville, Grady, Wallace, John, Rennie, Leonie J, Malone, John

The culture of the middle years of schooling in Western Australia, as in many parts of the world, is predominantly discipline based. This paper focuses on exceptions to this norm by describing examples of integrated teaching of science, mathematics, and technology in seventh- to ninth-grade classrooms. Several different forms of integration were found in the 16 Western Australian schools examined in this study, including thematic approaches, cross-curricular approaches, technology-based projects, and local community projects. Interviews with teachers in these schools raised several implementation issues, including the process of getting started, implications for teachers and students, implications for schedule structure, and implications for departmental structure. All the forms of integration observed in this study were through secondary means, in which the discrete subject discipline boundaries were being maintained The deep culture of subject disciplines, underwritten by curriculum documents organized in terms of subjects, means that there may be few incentives for teachers to teach and students to learn in an integrated manner.

This article draws together two major areas of concern in education, integration of curriculum and the concept of middle schooling. In Australia, as in many other parts of the world, children enter high school around 12 years of age after several years of elementary or primary schooling. Typically, the transition is marked by several changes for students, from a relaxed to a highly discipline-based organization of content, and from one teacher teaching in the same classroom to many teachers in many classrooms. These curricular and structural changes impact the teacher-student relationship and make the middle years of school potentially stressful and alienating and hence of considerable educational concern (Cormack,1996; Hargreaves, Earl, & Ryan, 1996; Speering & Rennie,1996).

One of the most contested areas of middle schooling is the nature of the curriculum (Cumming,1993). A multitude of approaches have been proposed, including discrete subjects and disciplines (Fleming, 1993), thematic approaches to content and skills (Drake,1991; McDonald & Czerniak,1994), and an emphasis on local community problems (Tchudi & Lafer, 1993; Williams & Reynolds, 1993). By far the loudest voice, however, comes from those advocating a middle school curriculum which is relevant, negotiated, and integrated (Cumming, 1996, Eyers, 1992; Schools Council, 1993). The purpose of this article is to examine integrated teaching in the middle school years in the state of Western Australia, with a particular focus on integration of science, mathematics, and technology.

The Case for Integration

Bean (1991) presented an evocative analogy for traditional school structures where the curriculum is organized around discrete disciplines:

Given a pile of jigsaw puzzle pieces and told to put them together, no doubt we would ask to see the picture they make. It is the picture, after all, that gives meaning to the puzzle and assures us that the pieces fit together, that none are missing and that there are no extras. Without the picture, we probably wouldn't want to bother with the puzzle....To students, the typical curriculum presents an endless array of facts and skills that are unconnected, fragmented, and disjointed. That they might be connected or lead toward some whole picture is a matter that must be taken on faith by young people. (p. 9)

Traditional subject disciplines, according to Bean, are "territorial spaces carved out by academic scholars for their own purposes" (p. 9), their boundaries limiting student access to broader meanings. In order to provide a curriculum that motivates students, Bean advocated addressing real-life questions of interest to them through an integrated curriculum that promotes wholeness and unity rather than separation and fragmentation.

Several authors have classified integrated teaching practice into various models, stages, and continua, with a variety of associated terminology. Fogarty (1991), for example, proposed 10 models of integration, ranging from the traditional fragmented model to those that connect, sequence, nest, share, web, thread, integrate, network, or immerse the learner in curricular integration. Reflecting on the experience of a team of teachers who worked with her on an integrated project, Drake (1991) described a progression in the process of curriculum development through multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approaches.

Marsh (1993) suggested that the various forms of curriculum integration can be considered as a continuum beginning with "discipline-based options," with separate subjects taught at different times. The first step toward integration is "parallel-disciplines," in which content is sequenced to correspond with related content in other disciplines. Marsh then described "multi-disciplinary thematic approaches," in which the various subjects contribute to a central theme, and "interdisciplinary concepts and topics," in which discipline concepts are chosen because of their direct relevance to the theme. "Internal orientation" encompasses activities that arejointly planned and implemented by students and teachers. The final variation of curriculum integration on the continuum is "whole school integration," involving a total transformation of the learning environment, as practiced in Waldorf schools (Barnes, 1991).