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The Integration of Science, Mathematics, and Technology in a Discipline‐Based Culture
Author(s) -
Venville Grady,
Wallace John,
Rennie Léonie J.,
Malone John
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
school science and mathematics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.135
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 1949-8594
pISSN - 0036-6803
DOI - 10.1111/j.1949-8594.1998.tb17424.x
Subject(s) - mathematics education , curriculum , ninth , technology integration , integrated curriculum , subject (documents) , pedagogy , science education , sociology , teaching method , mathematics , computer science , library science , physics , acoustics
The culture of the middle years of schooling in Western Australia, as in many parts of the world, is predominantly discipline based. This paper focuses on exceptions to this norm by describing examples of integrated teaching of science, mathematics, and technology in seventh‐ to ninth‐grade classrooms. Several different forms of integration were found in the 16 Western Australian schools examined in this study, including thematic approaches, cross‐curricular approaches, technology‐based projects, and local community projects. Interviews with teachers in these schools raised several implementation issues, including the process of getting started, implications for teachers and students, implications for schedule structure, and implications for departmental structure. All the forms of integration observed in this study were through secondary means, in which the discrete subject discipline boundaries were being maintained. The deep culture of subject disciplines, underwritten by curriculum documents organized in terms of subjects, means that there may be few incentives for teachers to teach and students to learn in an integrated manner.