When did Google become a verb?
Do you need to remember the end of a famous quote? The director of that one movie? The atomic mass of Lithium? The height of the Empire State Building? Just Google it! How many times have we heard this from other teachers, our students, or even ourselves as we encouraged the class to look for extraneous knowledge? In the age of Google, knowing is not what it used to be. While in the past, being a fountain of knowledge of names, dates, masses, and weights would get you long-lasting prestige, now it may only get you a shot on Jeopardy. In order to compete in today’s workforce knowing is much less important than being able to apply information to new situations.
As a teacher, we should rejoice. Gone are the days we have to force facts via rote memorization into young minds. Now we must coach them into solving problems, applying knowledge, and generating novel ideas. Teachers are no longer just the holders of their content knowledge but they must be coaches, encouraging students to stretch mentally. So to answer the question I posed earlier, guess what I did. According to google.com Google become a verb on June 15, 2006 when it was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
As a teacher, we should rejoice. Gone are the days we have to force facts via rote memorization into young minds. Now we must coach them into solving problems, applying knowledge, and generating novel ideas. Teachers are no longer just the holders of their content knowledge but they must be coaches, encouraging students to stretch mentally. So to answer the question I posed earlier, guess what I did. According to google.com Google become a verb on June 15, 2006 when it was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Interdisciplinary Education
"...this [collaboration] is perhaps the single most effective technique a group of teachers can adopt to help students realize that what they are being taught is important to learn. … When students can make the connection between one class and another, they come to a better understanding of why education is important. They see a picture of the whole and not just isolated classes and subjects.”
BROWN, D. (2014). Opening Classroom Doors to Collaborative Learning. Education Digest, 79(7), 19-22.
Interdisciplinary Education
As soon as students reach middle school most of them learn math in math class, English in English class, and science in science class. We create these silos of education bound by four walls, and then we are confused when students act like they don’t remember basic writing skills when we ask them to write a lab report in science. Learning that takes place in isolated, 1 hour increments like this will be limited. We must work to make school less compartmentalized and offer a more integrated and holistic approach. After all, how many careers will our students go into that only require knowledge from one subject?
When teachers are separated by subject matter, content standards, departments, classrooms, and sometimes even buildings, how can we make cross-curricular efforts purposeful and meaningful? One option is the pineapple chart. A pineapple chart is a editable (often dry erase) board placed in an area of high traffic for teachers. Teachers can post or write on the board what topics or activities are happening in their classroom. Perhaps you could post onto a school-wide Google calendar. Other teachers are welcome to pop by your classroom to observe or collaborate on concepts. When students are making connections between concepts in multiple classes and relating that to their life, they are learning whether they intend to or not. Not only will these cross curricular measures generate more real world scenarios and authentic connections for students to see value in their education, but it will also help teachers grasp the connections between concepts better.
When teachers are separated by subject matter, content standards, departments, classrooms, and sometimes even buildings, how can we make cross-curricular efforts purposeful and meaningful? One option is the pineapple chart. A pineapple chart is a editable (often dry erase) board placed in an area of high traffic for teachers. Teachers can post or write on the board what topics or activities are happening in their classroom. Perhaps you could post onto a school-wide Google calendar. Other teachers are welcome to pop by your classroom to observe or collaborate on concepts. When students are making connections between concepts in multiple classes and relating that to their life, they are learning whether they intend to or not. Not only will these cross curricular measures generate more real world scenarios and authentic connections for students to see value in their education, but it will also help teachers grasp the connections between concepts better.
Another option for being purposeful about making interdisciplinary connections is including a place in your lesson plans for making connections to the real world and other subjects. I offer merits (a reward system) for students when they see connections between ideas in my course and their other courses. For example, a fellow teacher shared with me that when discussing coding one of their students related computer code to the order of nucleotide bases in the genetic code of our DNA. Any connections like this that we can encourage students to make will help concrete their knowledge.
As teachers, we have to be willing to step outside of our comfort zone and reach out to another teacher or department. The first step for me was realizing that it’s okay to not know every answer to every question that may come up in a cross-curricular unit. In fact, these moments will create genuine opportunities to discover with our students. Are you interested in collaborating with the literature department? I’ve seen where Biology teachers taught genetics when students read Frankenstein, viruses when students read The Hot Zone, and cells, cancer, and ethics as students read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. One way to make sure students see similar expectations in both courses is to use the same writing rubrics to grade assignments. Are you interested in collaborating with the math department? Consider teaching dimensional analysis, radioactive decay, and/or exponential growth in conjunction with a math teacher. A unit on public health, communicable diseases, genetic mutations, and the Center of Disease Control could easily be made cross-curricular.
As teachers, we have to be willing to step outside of our comfort zone and reach out to another teacher or department. The first step for me was realizing that it’s okay to not know every answer to every question that may come up in a cross-curricular unit. In fact, these moments will create genuine opportunities to discover with our students. Are you interested in collaborating with the literature department? I’ve seen where Biology teachers taught genetics when students read Frankenstein, viruses when students read The Hot Zone, and cells, cancer, and ethics as students read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. One way to make sure students see similar expectations in both courses is to use the same writing rubrics to grade assignments. Are you interested in collaborating with the math department? Consider teaching dimensional analysis, radioactive decay, and/or exponential growth in conjunction with a math teacher. A unit on public health, communicable diseases, genetic mutations, and the Center of Disease Control could easily be made cross-curricular.
Project Based Learning
Another great way to incorporate interdisciplinary education is through Project Based Learning (PBL). PBL offers relevant and authentic lessons and assessments with voice and choice. PBL calls for teachers to transition from projects as being supplemental to teaching content. If we want students to solve problems and think critically rather than just regurgitate information, we must provide opportunities for them to practice. PBL offers this pathway. Additionally incorporating projects in which students create public products will increase student investment. Ideas for PBL projects are easily found on the internet. You might try tracking current measles outbreaks and vaccination records or participating in citizen science projects like looking for planets. Pair the geometry teacher and the shop teacher to design and build a structure using angles and materials quotes.
Another great way to incorporate interdisciplinary education is through Project Based Learning (PBL). PBL offers relevant and authentic lessons and assessments with voice and choice. PBL calls for teachers to transition from projects as being supplemental to teaching content. If we want students to solve problems and think critically rather than just regurgitate information, we must provide opportunities for them to practice. PBL offers this pathway. Additionally incorporating projects in which students create public products will increase student investment. Ideas for PBL projects are easily found on the internet. You might try tracking current measles outbreaks and vaccination records or participating in citizen science projects like looking for planets. Pair the geometry teacher and the shop teacher to design and build a structure using angles and materials quotes.
Place-based education is learning that is rooted in what is local - the unique history, environment, culture, economy, literature, and art of a particular place. The community provides the context for learning, student work focuses on community needs and interests, and community members serve as resources and partners in every aspect of teaching and learning. This local focus has the power to engage students academically, pairing real-world relevance with intellectual rigor, while promoting genuine citizenship and preparing people to respect and live well in any community they choose.
(Rural School and Community Trust, 2005)
Place-Based Education
Similar to PBL, Place-Based or Community-Based Education is another great opportunity to make learning authentic and relevant for students. I particularly feel like this approach would work well for my students and my community. My school is located on the banks of the White River in Clarendon, AR. We are surrounded by fertile crop land and the White River National Wildlife Refuge. It is my dream to start a field science course in which our classroom is the environment around us. Students would keep field science notebooks and we would study ecology, dendrology, aquatic science, succession, etc. One of the potential problems I see in PBL and Place-Based Education is sustainability. When one teacher leaves a school, will these projects remain in place or dwindle? In order to support sustainability, include other teachers and departments in your cross-curricular efforts.
Ideas for Place-Based Education are harder to come by, but you may try designing, planting, and maintaining a community garden. Have students market and sell crops and products at a farmer’s market. In the ever-popular egg drop experiment, have the local fire department come and drop the egg contraptions from their ladder. Leave your ideas for PBL and Place-based projects in the comment section below.
Ideas for Place-Based Education are harder to come by, but you may try designing, planting, and maintaining a community garden. Have students market and sell crops and products at a farmer’s market. In the ever-popular egg drop experiment, have the local fire department come and drop the egg contraptions from their ladder. Leave your ideas for PBL and Place-based projects in the comment section below.
Learning is not a spectator sport. We cannot just learn about science, we must learn how to think like scientists, ask questions like scientists, and do science.