Fulfilling The Interdisciplinary Dream

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picture courtesy Exploring Education

The education world is all about buzzwords. From early classes in all disciplines to graduate level courses in specialized topics, practitioners are constantly throwing around terms like “differentiation”, “STEM” (now STEAM), “flipped classrooms”, “high-stakes testing”, “collaborative learning”, and “MOOCs”. These catch phrases live in the hearts and minds of professionals from first grade math and high school english teachers, to professors, to DOE leaders. They are the markers of our dogma and reflections of our values.

Many of these these terms are certainly worth their buzz and have significant consideration in the education world. They often address our most glaring needs. Indeed, if we were to carefully consider each, we would progress our educational system in thoughtful and forward-thinking ways. Sadly, nearly all of these terms will fail to live out the decade. They will wane in their importance, consideration, and implementation, eventually falling to footnotes in aspiring teacher’s textbooks. But, a few have the staying power necessary to address more long-term educational practice. The term “interdisciplinary curriculum” remains one of these few. It has transcended the typical buzzword shelf life and continues to find a place in the fore of educator’s discourse.

Despite having the staying power to remain a prominent buzzword, interdisciplinary curriculum also remains inaccessible to schools for a variety of reasons. Outside of individual teacher-driven projects (of which there are many) interdisciplinary lies merely as a desirable possibility for professionals. Additionally, although a strong desire for implementation exists, its actualization has gained little traction in the choices of schools. Like many of the buzzwords in the educational arena, it is merely buzz.

Every few years, an education “guru” crops up talking about the need for schools to teach their students to blur the lines of learning disciplines. The guru often states that schools should focus on the complex connections, reasoning, and patterns that can only be uncovered through in-depth analysis of a critical topic spanning multiple disciplines. In 1997, the President’s Council on Sustainable Development released a report entitled From Classroom To Community And Beyond: Educating For A Sustainable Future. The middle chapters of the report call strongly for emphasis on interdisciplinary learning. Before becoming Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan spearheaded one of these efforts in Chicago called CAPE - a local artist / classroom collaborative. In August of 2012, Mr. Duncan hosted a conference at the White House to promote the use of video games as interdisciplinary platforms.

Regardless this guru talk, few school-based products have actually emerged. This speaks to the deeper issue that very few models of teaching/learning have committed themselves to an all-in interdisciplinary approach. With the focus on high stakes testing, strict content delivery guidelines, and pre-fabricated scope and sequence trajectories, there is very little freedom for schools to make the choice. We have built our entire educational system on the notion that math should happen in math class, science in science class, and pushed aside truly innovative thoughts of curriculum.

Instead of considering curricular change more broadly, we rely on outstanding teachers to use methods such as multi-genre writing projects and partnerships with community organizations to create these opportunities for students. This is a promising place to start and has provided some truly revolutionary work thus far. Educators such as Tom Romano, those working with the Buck Institute for Education, Edvisions, and Eagle Rock School are pushing the envelope with much success. Their work proves that if education professionals commit themselves, consider long-term outcomes, and realize the autonomy they have, the interdisciplinary dream can become a reality.

While the transcendental power of interdisciplinary learning is certainly captured in this work, its true power can only be uncovered through initiatives that are broader than individuals’ projects and classrooms. Blurring the lines between academic disciplines must occur with broad  curricular change and a solid foundation on which the change can be built. Luckily for those of us willing and able to pursue this change there are the Social Studies.

Social Studies content offers a unique foundation on which a curriculum can be built. It is question driven. Its critical topics speak to the hearts and minds of young people. It is predisposed for interdisciplinary learning. It requires students to think deeply, make connections, explore broadly, and practice cross-curricular skills. Using Social Studies content to guide the creation of curriculum, a school can anchor its overarching critical concepts on foundational knowledge thus allowing its students to more easily store, access, and retrieve these concepts for future use.

The additional beauty of implementing an interdisciplinary curricular approach based on the Social Studies is that it supports another (not-so-buzz) buzzword: Common Core Standards. With the the Common Core’s focus on skills and understanding rather than content scope, schools have the freedom to facilitate the use of text and content that spans disciplines. Students can work with a single expository piece of text in each discipline while they develop core skills and address specific critical concepts surrounding that text. Additionally, when anchored in Social Studies content, students can learn to analyze a text or concept using their developed expertise in each curricular area. Imagine a student going home and working on an assignment that asks them to think, write, read, and calculate all surrounding a single critical topic. The student could immerse themselves in project work that is rigorously in-depth allowing them to move beyond the skill compartmentalization that often plagues our young people.

The caveat to this whole process is that it requires re-thinking on our part as educators. We must step back and reconsider another buzzword: collaboration. If we dedicate our energy to the creative restructuring of “professional development” that allows for teachers to work consistently collaborate, our pursuit of the interdisciplinary dream can become an actuality. A simple place to start would be for administrators to move away from drop-in-the-bucket “PD Days” and set aside time to facilitate the crafting of meaningful curricular strands.

In many ways, creating an interdisciplinary curriculum will call our bluff. It will increase professional accountability amongst teachers, giving them a dedicated team to which they must answer on a regular basis. Peer evaluation would become an actuality, and our often lost and questionable “PLCs” will become directed and meaningful. Additionally, teachers can stop feeling like they are guardians of their disciplinary craft sitting on a non-collaborative island. Schools can become centers of deeper learning where professionals are modeling collaborative practices, instead of simply calling for them.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]