Cross Curriculum as Integrating Knowledge and Skills - Essay Example

?Cross Curriculum as Integrating Knowledge and Skills From Various Sources Being a teacher entails much creativity in planning lessons for if one wants to engage them in learning. Planning the curriculum takes much time, effort and research. Over the years, curriculum planning has evolved into many forms and currently, teachers are in a position to select from a variety of choices on how they can create one that best suits their learners. It is evident that any curriculum definition one way or another puts emphasis on the learning process, gained knowledge and skills, subject content and students’ comprehensive learning experience. In designing an appropriate course curriculum, an essential process needs to be considered including which curriculum model is most suitable for the needs of the learner. The process of learning is as important as the content learned (Newby 2005). Professor Colin J. Marsh (2004) suggests that any definition of curriculum gives insight about its main characteristics and emphases. One of his definitions notes the significance of ‘permanent’ subjects such as grammar, mathematics, reading, logic and literature of the Western world which represent necessary knowledge. This has been known as the “knowledge-based curriculum”. This model of curriculum has been implemented in most schools. An example of this could be the National Curriculum in the UK which has specific content subjects with specific goals for student achievement. It is essential to remember that subjects and syllabi need to be adjusted to fit current culture and the society. One of the most traditional and most commonly used models is “content or syllabus-based”. Blenkin et al (1992) suggest that curriculum is delineated into subjects and delivered through a bulk of knowledge-content. Education, he states, is the route where these can be transferred to students using efficient teaching and learning methods. This type of curriculum emphasizes students attending schools to learn subject-specific facts. It also helps to use this model in assessment process where students, according to their gained qualification can be grouped in to high and low achievers. Furthermore, it dictates what route a student will be able to take. Students with high grades traditionally would be expected to progress to universities where less successful students would be advised to take a non academic route (i e. study a vocational programme or gain employment elsewhere). It is interesting to note that most of the employers are not as interested in a depth of ones’ subject knowledge but more on practical skills such as problem solving, analysing, evaluating, self-reflection and self discipline which are directly related to work (Ross, 2000). However, this does not discount the fact that subject-based curriculum will always have a place in education. The Review of the national primary curriculum of UK prioritizes the development of: A strong, coherent curriculum which has flexibility to personalise teaching and learning is crucial to driving up standards further. It is central to the ambitions we have set out in the Children’s Plan and to delivering the outcomes of the Every Child Matters agenda. (Rose, 2009, p. 27). The key outcomes of Every Child Matters agenda are the following: being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and economic well-being (HM Treasury, 2003).In addition, the Rose review likewise recommends that the curriculum must provide all pupils with a broad and balanced entitlement to learning which encourages creativity and inspires in them a commitment to learning that will last a lifetime. (Rose, 2009, p. 27) Currently, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, (ATL, 2006) proposes that changes in the National Curriculum should start with the pupil in mind – his needs and interests and should be designed in terms of the skills and attitudes educators would want pupils to pursue and develop. Emphasis of the curriculum must be transferred from being knowledge-based to being skills-based to adequately prepare them for more work-based learning in the future. More than content, learners must be engaged in various learning processes – “how to discover things, make sense of them, package them in different ways, and put knowledge to use in a wider variety of forms and for more, and more diverse, functions” (Newby, 2005, p. 298). Ways of knowing will be given much significance rather than the knowledge itself. So apart from concentrating on the academics, the curriculum should have elements that would develop skills in physical coordination, control, manipulation and movement; creativity; communication; information management; learning and thinking skills; interpersonal; citizenship. ATL advocates for a curriculum that “should be built from the foundations up, i.e. from the Early Years Foundation Stage through to the successive Key Stages” and one that specifies “what learners are able to do, rather than what they know” (ATL, 2006, p.3). Also, curriculum should be relevant to the pupils, so a locally designed curriculum will be more appreciated and become easier to relate to. Hence, national testing in such a situation is not expected to yield great results and should be deferred until the terminal stage of schooling. Jim Rose (2009) reports in the Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum of UK that many teachers complained that the existing national curriculum has too much content that are obligatory to be taught to children that to cover all of it would make them lose time in teaching each in depth and breadth or for children to consolidate their learning. He also mentioned the Cambridge Primary Review (2009) and the Children, Schools and Families Committee (2009) share the same view. Selecting relevant prescribed content and prevention of overloading were central to the review so schools will be able to meet their goals of helping children build on their prior learning and meet their individual needs to learn better. The Rose Review (2009) recommends that the primary curriculum should be organized to cover six areas of learning, namely: understanding English, communication and languages; mathematical understanding; scientific and technological understanding; historical, geographical and social understanding; understanding physical development, health and wellbeing and understanding the arts. Cross studies amongst these areas are highly encouraged for children to see connections and meaning in each area and to value the relevance of each area in their lives. In an effort to incorporate creativity in the curriculum, as proposed by the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE, 1999), schools in the UK have agreed to revise their curriculum to be more flexible, offer greater scope for creativity to meet the changing needs of students and society. Scottish Executive Education Department, (2006) reports that being creative, is an initiative to be developed across the curriculum, and intends that children use creative approaches, be imaginative, take risks, question and explore possibilities. The revised curriculum will also provide teachers more flexibility to design what they teach to meet the needs of their students, thus encouraging more creative approaches (SEED, 2006). A more holistic perspective of learning that likewise entails creativity development is now being supported by many educators, as it threads segregated learning into a more integrated one. Littledyke (2008) has defined integrated curriculum as such: Integrated curriculum thus refers to the use of several different strategies across several different domains and encompassing project and process approaches for holistic learning and development designed to support meaningful learning for children” (pp. 21-22). Curriculum integration helps students recognise connections between curriculum areas. These connections are essential to the brain in order to learn effectively. Integration changes the emphasis from the instruction of discrete academic subjects to activities that promote learning through real-life tasks. It blends academic disciplines into integrated topic studies which support creative thinking and problem solving, as opposed to rote memorisation and teacher-directed instruction of isolated skills and bits of information (Krogh, 1995). Also known as cross-curriculum, an integrated curriculum consists of a number of strategies that can be applied to deepen meaningfulness and support conceptual development (Bredekamp and Rosegrant, 1992). For this paper, the terms cross curriculum and integrated curriculum will be used interchangeably as they refer to the same definition. The principle of cross curriculum pertains to a form of instruction that provides learning experiences which combine content areas across multiple disciplines collectively. The initiative to integrate curriculum began when John Dewey (1938) proposed that curriculum be linked to real-life experiences and organized around activities that interest and engage children actively. Dewey asserted that children’s interests naturally progress into appropriate learning activities and extend to various areas of study. As implied by the guidelines for appropriate curriculum, the concept of integration can also be attributed to the integrated nature of development; that is, development in the different domains does not occur in isolation; rather they influence one another (Bredekamp and Rosegrant, 1992). An integrated curriculum allows the young child to perceive the world around him more clearly. Furthermore, it provides opportunities for in-depth exploration of a topic and learning that has a thorough coverage; more choices and therefore more motivation to learn and greater satisfaction with the results; more active learning; an opportunity for the teacher to learn along with the children and model lifelong learning; and a more efficient use of student and teacher time (Brewer, 2001). Themes provide coherence and allow young children to understand meaningful relationships across subject and skill areas. Using themes as an instructional tool organizes learning around basic concepts and ideas, and creates a general framework which serves as a basis for relating content and processing information from a range of disciplines. Content areas in an integrated curriculum largely stem from the children themselves – their interests, questions, and passion. This gives children the opportunity to become active partners in curriculum planning and the learning process; in effect, this departs from the traditional notion of a student’s role of passively listening to a teacher. The emphasis of the educational process then shifts from teaching to learning. Katz (1999) cited the following factors to consider in selecting themes: relevance, the opportunity for application of skills, the availability of resources, teacher interest, and the time of year. Moreover, theme teaching is most effective when the following strategies are considered during planning and implementing of the selected themes (Katz, 1999). It is evident that themes are generally derived from objects and realities found in a child’s immediate world. In the course of planning themes, the teacher’s role in determining appropriate themes is to carefully observe and make a written record of the children’s interests, discussions and play. Teachers can also promote their students’ interests by providing a variety of materials, including films, educational board games and other teaching objects, pictures, and books that would invite the students to participate in activities and projects. The project approach can be very appropriate to apply to a cross-curriculum. Projects are sets of activities with ideas mostly contributed by children and followed through and supervised by the teacher. It truly takes the children’s lead in investigating matters that interest them. “Projects provide experiences that involve students intellectually to a greater degree than the experiences that come from teacher-prepared units or themes. It is the children’s initiative, involvement and relative participation in what is accomplished that distinguish projects from units or themes” (Helm & Katz, 2000, p. 2). For example, in a curriculum with a family theme , home is a subconcept that can be investigated in a number of ways. It can begin with the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears which links it with the numeracy concept of number 3 and its quantity. The story moves the family around the different rooms in the house and the teacher can have discussions about each part (i.e. bedroom, what we do there; kitchen, what do we see there, etc.). A project map may be created by the teacher with the students, as to what they want to know about homes and children will post all possible questions and points of inquiry like parts of the house, different types of homes, people who build houses, etc. and plan out activities to investigate such questions. A Home visit may be done to some homes of the students in collaboration with the parents. A field trip to a house being constructed may also be an activity and builders may be interviewed as to what they do and what materials may be used. Back in school, the children may come up with a “housing project” building homes out of cardboard boxes and other materials. The whole process may be documented by the teacher with pictures and video and anecdotal records to present to the children and parents upon completion of the project. This integrated curriculum presents a number of possibilities and directions that the class can take. It can touch on multiple subject areas at a time and be designed to cover all subject areas (Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Math, Arts, Music & Values) while developing all developmental domains in the child: Physical, Social, Language, Cognitive, Emotional & Aesthetic with the concepts and activities planned out. All the sub-concepts are directly linked to the major concept and each sub-concept may further be dissected into more and more mini-branches. This is cross curriculum at work! As always, it is the interest of the children in the topic that needs to be considered (Fraser, 2000). It is important that the curriculum is learner-centered to ensure that their interests are captured, thus their learning is engaged. This reflects a process model and is consistent with constructivist philosophy. This stems from theories of Piaget and Vygotsky. Chaille (2008) argues that constructivism believes that children are constructing knowledge on their own and the learning environment considers and respects that. “In a constructivist classroom, children are constructing an understanding that they are building their own theories and constructing their own knowledge through interaction with a knowledgeable adult and other children” (Chaille, 2008, p. 5). It has much value in helping children use their minds well. Constructivist curriculum helps promote thinking, problem-solving and decision-making in children making them flexible and creative thinkers (Cromwell, 2000). For the teacher, an integrated curriculum is a good planning device that offers much flexibility. If the children lean toward another way other than what the teacher had expected, the integrated curriculum quickly guides her as to how to integrate it to a related concept so the flow of learning is not disrupted. At one glance, the integrated curriculum shows the coverage of what the children learn in school. It advocates natural learning, as it follows children’s interests and not impose the concepts that they need to learn. It follows that the skills they learn become meaningful to them, as it sprouts from their own interests. It also gets to touch on multiple subject areas and work on various developmental domains at a time. The richness of the cross or integrated curriculum cannot be underestimated nor overemphasized. It is a great tool to help teachers and a great way to maximize the learning potentials of their students. References Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) (2006), Subject to Change: New Thinking on the Curriculum, London. Blenkin, G.M. et al (1992) Change and the Curriculum, London: Paul Chapman. Bredekamp, S and Rosegrant, T., (eds), (1992). Reaching potentials: Appropriate curriculum and assessment for young children, vol. 1, National Association for the Education of Young Children, Washington, DC. Brewer, J. (2001) Introduction to early childhood education preschool through primary grades, 4th ed. Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon Cambridge Primary Review (2009). Towards a New Primary Curriculum:A report from the Cambridge Primary Review. Cambridge Primary Review,University of Cambridge. Chaille C. (2008) 'Big Ideas: A Framework for constructivist Curriculum', in Constructivism across the Curriculum in Early Childhood Classrooms, Pearson Education, Sydney Children, Schools and Families Committee (2009). National Curriculum: Fourth report of session 2008–09. The Stationery Office. Cromwell, E.S. (2000), Nurturing Readiness in Early Childhood Education: A Whole-Child Curriculum for Ages 2-5, 2nd edn, Allyn & Bacon, Needham Heights, MA Dewey, J. (1938) Experience and Education, New York: Macmillan. Fraser, S. (2000) Authentic Childhood: Experiencing Reggio Emilia in the Classroom, Ontario: Nelson Thomson Learning Helm, HJ., & Katz, L. (2000), 'Projects and Young Children', in The Project Approach in the Early Years, New York: Teachers College Press HM Treasury (2003). Every child matters. The Stationery Office. Katz, L. (1999) Curriculum disparities in early childhood education. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved on March 20, 2011 from http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/ed436298.html. Krogh, S. L. (1995). The integrated early childhood curriculum. New York: McGraw Hill Inc. Littledyke, R. (2008) Early Education Philosophy and Practice. University of New England. Marsh, C (2004) Key Concepts for Understanding Curriculum: How are Curriculum issues decided on? 3rd edition London, Falmer Press. NACCCE (1999) All our futures: creativity, culture and education. London, DfEE. Newby, M. (2005) A curriculum for 2020, Journal of education for teaching, November issue, pp297-300. Rose, J. (2009) Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/Primary_cur riculum_Report.pdf Ross, A. (2000) Curriculum: Construction and technique. London, Falmer Press Read More