Curriculum Integration in Middle Schools
Various Types of Curriculum Design and Tips to Move between Them
© Amy Horn
Apr 24, 2009
A recent issue of the Middle School Journal explains the four basic approaches to middle level curriculum design and offers suggestions for how to integrate curriculum in a practical and reasonable way. The article, “In Overcoming Obstacles to Curriculum Integration, L.E.S.S. Can Be More!” by David Virtue, Jennifer Wilson, and Nikki Ingram [NMSA, January 2009], suggests that teachers can dip their toes in the water with curriculum integration instead of diving head first into the deep end, and still be effective.
Levels of Curriculum Integration
For many teachers, the level of curriculum integration is a choice; for others, it isn’t. However, with No Child Left Behind driving the curriculum and instruction of most schools currently, many middle school teachers are finding that curriculum integration is no longer a matter of “if” but more a matter of “when” and “how.” In middle schools today, the four general approaches to curriculum are as follows:
- Conventional Curriculum – Teachers do not attempt to bring coherence to the curriculum, and clear boundaries exist between different subject matters.
- Correlated Curriculum – Teachers of different subject areas make an effort to introduce and reinforce certain vocabulary, concepts, and skills.
- Interdisciplinary Curriculum – Teachers do not establish boundaries between different subject areas, and curriculum overlaps from one to another.
- Integrative Curriculum – Teachers and students come together to develop engaging, integrative, relevant, and challenging learning experiences.
Tips for Curriculum Integration
These approaches to curriculum design are on a continuum of curriculum integration levels. And much like the overlapping and blurred boundaries that occur in subject areas with curriculum, teachers might find themselves crossing the boundaries on the continuum at one point and staying clearly within them at another point depending upon many different variables. If teachers are looking to move toward the end of the spectrum where Integrative Curriculum falls, they can follow these basic steps:
- Use school-based, local, and community resources
- Embrace teachable moments to help curriculum emerge or to develop it generatively with students
- Begin with simple approaches to integration
- Implement small-scale integrative learning experiences within one class
When teachers have the option, they generally make curricular choices based on what’s best for their specific classes. These choices aren’t always easy. And NCLB seems to make it more difficult at times. But middle school teachers need to know that they can create learning communities that engage both them and their students in active learning. Teachers comfortable with Conventional Curriculum don't need to jump into Integrated Curriuculm with both feet. But, small steps toward Integrated Curriculum will point them in the right direction.
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