UNIT I

CURRICULUM
INTERGRATION

INTRODUCTION
Highlighting the 2002 Basic Education
Curriculum (BEC) is curriculum integration, the
touchstone for integrative teaching and learning.
Through curriculum integration knowledge can
be connected and linked with other fields of
knowledge. It allows students to build bridges
across learning areas (subjects) is the elementary
and the secondary schools and apply knowledge
to new learning situation. This happens when the
sources of the curriculum are issues, events and
concerns that have applications in everyday
living.

OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, the students shall able to:
1) explain the significance of curriculum integration in
planning.
2) compares the level of integration used by teachers to
enhance learning.
3) discuss the learning theories supporting curriculum
integration.
4) discuss the principles in integrating big ideas and
strategies as applied in curriculum integration.
5) explain the common elements of an integrated
curriculum and how each one applies to instruction.
6) present the sequential steps in planning an integrated
curriculum and
7) understand the significance of curriculum integration
in the DepEd 2002 BEC.

INTEGRATED CURRICULUM
The concept of an integrated curriculum and its significance to the learners was
expounded by the educators like Beane (1992), Johnson and Johnson (1998), and
Kellough (2003), presented below are their perspective about an integrated
curriculum.
a. An integrated curriculum refers to a single course that contains one or more
disciplines. It consists of one set of objectives and assessment that covers a number
of related disciplines (Johnson and Johnson 1998).
b. An integrated curriculum is an educational approach that cuts across and draws on
multiple subject areas for learning and instruction. It purposes is to realistically link
various disciplines into the study and exploration of certain aspects of the world
(Beane, 1992).
c. An integrated curriculum is a way of teaching and a way of planning and organizing
the instructional program. This enables the discrete discipline of subject matter
related to one another in a design that matches the developmental needs of the
learner to connect their learnings in ways that are meaningful to their current and
past experiences. This is an antithesis of the traditional, disparate, subject-matter
oriented teaching and curriculum designation (Kellough, 2003).
Kellough further elucidated that the term integrated curriculum or any of its
synonyms like thematic instruction, multidisciplinary teaching, integrated studies,
interdisciplinary curriculum, or interdisciplinary thematic instruction refers to both a
way of teaching and a way of planning in organizing the instructional program.

INTEGRATION IN BASIC EDUCATION

What is integration? How does it apply to
teaching?
To integrate is to make up, combine, or
complete to produce a whole or a larger unit
as parts do. Integration is applied to
education to facilitate the integrative and
interactive learning processes in the
classroom. To Johnson and Johnson (1998),
integration is the process of linking new
information to prior learning, and linking
different parts of learning to each other.

SPECTRUM OF INTEGRATED CURRICULUM

Kellough (1996) advocates to teachers five level of curriculum integration:
LEVEL 1: CURRICULUM INTEGRATION: THIS IS THE TRADITIONAL
ORGANIZATION OF CURRICULUM AND CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION. IN THIS LEVEL
THE TEACHERS PLAN AND ARRANGE THE SUBJECT THROUGH A SPECIFIC SCOPE
AND SEQUENCES.
LEVEL 2: CURRICULUM INTEGRATION: IN THIS LEVEL OF INTEGRATION, THE
THEMES IN ONE DISCIPLINE ARE NOT NECESSARILY PLANNED TO CORRESPOND
WITH THE THEMES IN ANOTHER. NEITHER ARE THE TEACHERS EXPECTED
TPTEACH THEM SIMULTANEOUSLY.
LEVEL 3: CURRICULUM INTEGRATION: IT IS AT THIS LEVEL WHEN THE CLASS
IS STUDYING TWO OR MORE CORE LEARNING AREAS OR SUBJECT AROUND A
COMMON THEME.
LEVEL 4: CURRICULUM INTEGRATION: TEACHERS TEACHING DIFFERENT
SUBJECTS COLLABORATE ON A COMMON THEME AND ITS CONTENT. IT IS A THIS
LEVEL WHEN DISCIPLINE BOUNDARIES BEGIN TO DISAPPEAR AS THE TEACHERS
ADDRESS A COMMON THEME.
LEVEL 5: CURRICULUM INTEGRATION: A COMMON THEME IS LIKEWISE CHOSEN
BY A TEAM OF TEACHERS. IN THIS LEVEL OF INTEGRATION THE CONTENT AND
DISCIPLINE BOUNDARIES ARE BLURRED DURING THE TEACHING LEARNING
PROCESS.

Constructivism
Constructivism. This theory expounds that development and
learning occur through constructive process and that knowledge
is constructed from experience. To the constructivists, learning is
active, engaging, and interesting. In the constructivist classroom,
the students are given the responsibility to search for their own
meaning through hands-on activities. During the teachinglearning process, students ask questions, explore and discover.
Thus, they are able to construct new understandings and
incorporate them into what they already hold in long tem
memory (Cruishank, 1999).
Constructivists like John Dewey (1938), Jean Piaget (1960), and
Lev Vygotsky (1934) maintain that children learn by actually
constructing meaning from their simultaneously embedded
experiences. Reaching in a constructivist mode has a slower pace,
uses varied strategies and resource materials, and provides
opportunities for the creation of new ideas.

Students in the constructivist classroom engage in problem solving

decision-making, and cooperative activities utilizing interactive
activities to learn integrated bodies of knowledge.
Principles in Integrating Big Ideas and Strategies
To ensure effective instruction, Beane (1992) expounds the
significance f the following principles in integrating big ideas and
strategies.
1. Integrate several ideas and strategies.
2. Match content with strategies,
3. Integrate relevant concepts.
4. Integrate big ideas across multiple contents of instruction.
5. Provide opportunities to establish connections.
These principles provide direction to teachers in making
connections or establishing linkages between two or more
disciplines or learning areas.

Learning Task 1.1

Answer the following questions.
1. What is an integrated curriculum?
_________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. How does integrated curriculum differ from unidisciplinary curriculum of regular
courses?
_________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. What is integration?
_________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4. How is curriculum integration undertaken?
_________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
5. What are the results of curriculum integration?
_________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

6. What are the theories supporting curriculum integration? Explain each one.
____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
7. How does curriculum integration improve basic education?
____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

LEARNING TASK 1.2

Write below two definitions of an integrated curriculum.
1. ____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

LEARNING TASK 1.3

Write inside the chart how each of the following learning theories
supports curriculum integration.
1. Experiential Learning

2. Multiple Intelligence

3. Constructivism

LEARNING TASK 1.4

Answer the question on the ladder web.
What are the common elements of an
integrated curriculum?
1.
2.

3.
4.

5.
6.

7.

LEARNING TASK 1.5

Write a statement about the common elements of an integrated
curriculum.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

Learning Task 1.6

Write inside the chart a brief description on how integration takes place in each level.
CURRICULUM INTEGRATION

LEVEL 1
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 4
LEVEL 5

LEARNING RASK 1.7

Write below five (5) basic understanding about an integrated curriculum.
1. ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
4. ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
5. ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

LEARNING TASK 1.8

Give examples for each of the nine (9) categories of multiple intelligences of
Howard Gardner and Associates.

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE
1. Linguistic Intelligence
2. Logical- Mathematical
Intelligence
3. Spatial Intelligence
4. Bodily- Kinesthetic
Intelligence
5. Musical Intelligence
6. Interpersonal
Intelligence

7. Intrapersonal Intelligence
8. Naturalistic Intelligence
9. Existentialist Intelligence

Unit 1 : CURRICULUM
INTERGRATION
Prepared by :
BEEd III- A (General Education)
MILLIENOR D. TAPIA
JANILLE P. QUINTOS
YORADYL ARGUIL
PHILIP CYRILL F. CANDELARIA