INTEGRATED CURRICULLUM

What is Integrated Curriculum?

IC is one that transcends the boundaries imposed by traditional subject groupings. It allows students to
move across ‘disciplines’ as they learn about their world. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.1)

In essence, integrating the curriculum involves the integration of content and process. The content
subjects are essentially concerned with ideas about how the world works. The process subjects offer a
range of ways of allowing us to represent how we see and make meaning of our world (real or
imagined) (Pigdon & Woolley, 1992, p.7)

IC is about helping students make sense of their world and about providing a sensible and meaningful
purpose for the activities in which they engage.

IC is an approach to teaching and learning characterized by inquiry, reflection, cooperation and ongoing
assessment and evaluation. In IC facilitates the learning process for students and, ultimately, help to
ensure that connections are made. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.15)

Characteristics of Integrated Curriculum

IC is inquiry based and should be structured according to the principles of inquiry teaching and learning.
IC is ‘understanding driven’ - the ultimate goal of teaching and learning becomes one of enhancing
students’ understanding of the way the world works. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.1)

In IC, meaning is central and the links between various subjects are real and purposeful. (Murdoch &
Hornsby, 2005, p.12)

IC is driven by the concepts, understandings, skills and values we want children to develop. (Murdoch &
Hornsby, 2005, p.13)

In IC, the curriculum areas have the focus on ‘learning about the way the world works’ that the topics
are authentic and purposeful (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.17)

Changes in our understanding of curriculum

TRADITIONAL TRANSITIONAL BALANCED

Integrated Curriculum is inclusive; it promotes planning which incorporates understandings from each of
these compatible trends and provides an authentic framework for their implementation. The trends are:
(Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.7)
1. Cooperative Learning (Dalton: 1987; Johnson and Johnson, 1975)
2. Structures for Thinking: Reflection and Metacognition (Costa 1991; De Bono 1976, 1985)
3. Theory of Multiple Intelligences (Gardner 1985)
4. Whole Language (Goodman 1986; Harste, Woodward & Burke 1984; Cambourne 1988)
5. Negotiated Curriculum (Boomer 1982)
6. Philosophy for Children (Lipman 1988; Splitter 1995)
The Significances of Integrated Curriculum
Integrated Curriculum is an effective means of giving teachers and students a greater sense of purpose
in their day-to-day experiences of school.

Integrated Curriculum helps make connections, in short, it helps learning make sense.

There should still be identifiable ‘pieces’ of the puzzle-such as programs in Math, English, the arts, etc,
but they are planned and taught in a way that fosters the authentic links between these areas and helps
students understand why they are learning what they are learning. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.6)

Learning is successful when: (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.7)

 Learners are actively involved in gathering and processing information
 It is context based
 It involves interaction and cooperation with others
 Skills, strategies and behaviors are applied towards a common purpose
 The learner is engaged and interested in what he/she is learning
 The learner has a significant degree of control over the learning
 Prior knowledge and experience are valued, made explicit and built upon
 Knowledge, skills, values and actions are integrated towards a common purpose
 The learner has the opportunity to use multiple forms of expression and perception
 The individual learner’s ways of knowing are recognized and valued
 There is a partnership between the teacher and the learner
 Students are aware of the purpose of their learning
 Students are empowered to reflect on how they learn
 Individual learning styles are acknowledged and catered for
 Learners’ ideas and/or misconceptions are challenged within a supportive and respectful
environment

Planning in Integrated Curriculum (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.2)

Questions in planning IC:
1. What understanding do I hope students will develop through this unit?
2. What skills and processes are they likely to be developing and practicing?
3. When will it be appropriate for me to gather records for assessment?
4. What resources are available?
5. What grouping structures will assist students in this situation?
And,
6. What is being integrated?

The units of work we plan should always be guided by questions such as: (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005,
p.13)
1. How is this significant for these children?
2. What are the big understandings here?
3. What values can we focus on?

If we plan a balanced curriculum, with concepts, understandings, skills and values firmly in mind, then
the outcomes will take care of themselves. Outcomes are developed in a meaningful context.
Keys:
- A balance between learning areas, skills, materials and experiences
- Knowing our students well allows us to make informed decisions about the kinds of resources
and activities that may best suit their needs and interests.
- We should be prepared to review and reconstruct our plan on the basis of both needs and
interests.
- Having a ‘big picture’ and a broad plan to guide our work gives us room to move within an
overall structure – the spontaneous and unplanned, in fact, and unplanned, in fact, become
more effectively utilized.
- Planning time in integrated curriculum has a long – rather than short – term focus. More time u
required at the beginning of a new unit but less time is then required for week-to-week
planning. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.5)

Teacher’s Roles in Integrated Curriculum

As a teacher, our experience and our access to well researched curriculum documents gives us a view of
the world that allow us to select the kinds of topics and experiences that will challenge and extend
students as well as engage them.
The teacher task is to broaden students’ knowledge, skills and experiences – to take them beyond what
they know and can do (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.2)

Notes:
While many things can and should be done within an integrated context, we can maintain regular
routines that may or may not be linked with units. Planning ahead allows us to see genuine
opportunities for natural links between the unit and regular routines. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.3)

Collaborative Learning (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.3)

Collaborative learning enables students to access a wider range of knowledge, experience and skills
beyond their own and develops important social and learning skills.
The decision to have students working on their own, in pairs or small groups should be based on the
purpose and nature of the activities.
Students should be encouraged to regularly reflect on the way they work and learn in both cooperative
and individual situations.
Notes:
It will be appropriate for students to work on their own. This gives them an opportunity to demonstrate
their particular understandings, to reflect on their learning, and to choose ways of working that suits
them best. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.3)

Carrying Out Integrated Curriculum

The possible cases faced during carrying out integrated curriculum:
When we attempt to fit all subject areas into the one topic or theme, we often end up with a correlated
or thematic curriculum rather than integrated curriculum.
In an integrated curriculum, subject areas should blend with real rather than forced purposes. Not all
units will integrate all areas all of the time. Rather than ask ourselves: What a subject activity (e.g.: art)
can we do about this topic? We can ask: How could we use the subject to help students develop
understandings about this topic? (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.3-4)

The Outcome of Integrated Curriculum

An integrated curriculum should enhance the learner’s capacity to make connections. It develops higher
order thinking skills and encourages the learner to make meaning from experience. This capacity will, in
fact, assist the learner in whatever learning environment they are placed. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005,
p.4)

We are teaching children to become responsible and effective individuals as well as citizens in a real and
complex world. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.13)

A set of key qualities and skills of people who will lead successfully into the future are such people who
will:
 Be flexible
 Be adaptable
 Be positive
 See change as an opportunity
 Take risks, face the unknown
 Be life-long learners
 Be self confident
 Use initiative and be innovative
 Be organized, active, purposeful
 Negotiate, communicate
 Plan, solve problems
 Take and share responsibility
 Have a ‘we’ attitude
An integrated approach to learning is designed to foster such characteristics from the moment a child
begins school, and to develop them in authentic, inquiry-based contexts.
The integration of the curriculum encourages learners to make connections – not only between
curriculum areas but between knowledge, skills, feelings, values and attitudes. We need to encourage
our learners to become ‘multi-skilled’ and to be able to transfer their skills and understandings across
various contexts. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.9)

Assessment in Integrated Curriculum

An effective integrated curriculum should enable assessment to occur in a broader range of contexts,
using a wider range of assessment of technique than are available or possible in a more closed, subject-
specific approach.

An inquiry-based, integrated curriculum allows the teacher to gather information about students’
progress in various aspects of their learning, at the same time.

In our initial planning of a unit, it is important to make some predictions about the opportunities that
will arise for specific assessment purposes.

The open-ended and interdisciplinary nature of an integrated curriculum allows us to bring multiple
agendas to the assessment task – one activity or experience will be used to inform us about many
things. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.4)

In The Traditional Curriculum

Schools attempt to cover far too much material and … superficial understandings (or non
understandings) are the result. It makes far more sense to spend a significant amount of time on key
concepts, generative ideas and essential questions and to allow students to become more thoroughly
familiar with these notions and their implications. (Gardner, 1997 in Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.8)

Compartmentalization of separated subjects has long been criticized as inflexible, fragmented, and often
lacking in relevance and in the scope for the development of broader, conceptual understandings.
(Brady 1989; Dufty & Dufty 1990; Pigdon & Woolley 1992 in Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.8)

The problems faced by teachers are the escalating demands on teachers to accommodate additions to
the school curriculum; and the decreasing time and resources available for them to accommodate
additions to the school curriculum.

One of the most common complaints we hear from teachers is the lack of time they have to ‘fit
everything in’. Organizing an integrated curriculum can be one way in which teachers can manage their
time more efficiently.

The very content of the curriculum is constantly changing. The information base in society continues to
grow and change rapidly. Things that were facts yesterday may not be facts tomorrow. We can no
longer pretend that our curriculum covers ‘all there is to know’ –not that it ever could.
Solution:
Our curriculum therefore needs to be constructed in such a way that it gives priority to the ‘big ideas’
about the way the world works – significant concepts and understandings that help students interpret
their world and actively participate in it.

In order for curriculum to be truly integrated in the mind of the learner and teacher, it must do more
than simply relate or correlate pieces of information to a single topic or allow students to select topics
and activities at random. The content itself must be significant and rich with the potential for inquiry. It
must lend itself to a range of processes through which to explore that content; it must be relevant and
purposeful – not just interesting and fun!
When we integrate the curriculum, we help the learner to make connections that transcend the
boundaries of subject-specific knowledge. New learning is accommodated into existing frameworks of
understanding as the prior knowledge, interests, and needs of the learner are actively incorporated into
the teacher’s planning. Integrated curriculum actively involves students in their learning and helps them
to develop the important skills needed in ‘learning how to learn’.

Significant content is that which empowers students to navigate their way around an increasingly
complex and changing world. This means, quite simply that students have to learn ‘how the world
works’ – how the physical, social, spiritual, biological and social worlds interact (the construction of a big
picture of the world. These understanding will occur, not through the random selection of correlated
activities around a theme, but through a carefully sequenced plan which attends to the nature of
learning itself and the engagement of learners in activities which allow the process of inquiry to unfold.
Integrated curriculum becomes not only a model of teaching and learning but also for planning and
organizing. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.9)

Multiple Intelligence?
Learning depends on activating appropriate cognitive processes in the individual – and that these
processes will manifest differently within different learners. In short, preferred ways of knowing and
thinking vary from one person to the next.
Different students learn in different ways. It challenges us to design teaching and learning experiences
that allow for these differences between learners as well as encouraging all learners to develop and
integrate multiple ways of knowing (Gardner 1985; Atkin 1993; Lazear 1994 in Murdoch & Hornsby,
2005, p.10)

An integrated curriculum offers students opportunities to gather information, and process and apply
understandings through a wide range of vehicles. Dance, music, art, drama, language, math, and a range
of other areas are deliberately planned to provide a multiplicity of ways in which students receive and
produce ideas.

CHOOSING CONTENT FOR INTEGRATED CURRICULUM

Successful integrated curriculum in schools is generally characterized by a concern with issues and ideas
that are relevant and significant to students’ lives, both now and in the future. As Dufour (1990, p.11)
suggests, good cross-curriculum topics
… Impinge On the lives of young people and are directly related to the world in which they are
growing up. They all relate to the individual, to the society and to the future of the planet.

If we consider the broad, unifying ideas about the world, it helps you to determine relevant and
significant content. Dufty and Dufty (1990, p.5) in Murdoch & Hornsby (2005, p.17) describe these broad
ideas as
… Fundamental concepts that flow across fields of knowledge and provide us with useful cognitive
maps to find our ways around the world of knowledge. These important concepts, when seen in
relationship with one another, will help us to be able to make sense of, to talk about and so help to
influence the world around us …

The key to good topic selection is to understand the ‘bigger picture’ within which that topic fits. You are
then in a better position to help students to make the worthwhile connections that the topic provides.
The following broad categories adapted from Greig, Pike and Selby (1987, p.45-8) to help us select
content. All students should understand:
 The systemic nature of the social, physical, biological and technological worlds
 The relationships between the person and the planet
 The extent of each individual’s potential
 That their world is not universally shared
 The range of cultures and what they have to offer
 Global conditions, trends and developments
 Issues concerning justice, rights and responsibilities
 The implications of present choices and actions
 The needs for action skills necessary for participation in a global society

In IC, the curriculum areas (such as science, technology, social, environment and health education) have
the focus on ‘learning about the way the world works’ that the topics are authentic and purposeful
(Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.17)
Each unit of work can be seen as ‘a window on the world’ i.e. a sustained, systematic and integrated
investigation about aspects of society, science, technology health and/or the environment (or sustained
investigation about the world that helps students to understand their world). These curriculum areas
also help you to identify the big ideas or broad concepts that will help you to identify the big ideas or
broad concepts that will help you plan.

Students’ Involvement in the Selection of Content

The genuine involvement of students in directing their learning experience is paramount to good
teaching.
Giving students real opportunities to ask questions and make decisions in the classroom increases their
motivation and provides a sense of purpose in their work.

Finding out about your students’ interests, passions, questions and experiences is essential for
establishing a sense of community. Teacher must use this knowledge to help inform the selection of
content – and explicitly discuss this selection with their students.
As a teacher, we have a ‘big picture’ of the world – our role is to take students beyond their experiences
and this may involve choosing topics that are not initially determined by the students themselves.
Students can’t express an interest in things they don’t even know about!
Once a unit has begun, you can use students’ questions and interests to fine tune your planning. The
content of the integrated curriculum is then truly negotiated. (Murdoch & Hornsby, 2005, p.19)

To Inquire
The clear applications of topic/theme, concept and ideas
The area/kinds of concepts