Interdisciplinary teaching is all about simultaneous application of knowledge, ideas, and/or values of a domain in multiple academic domains. These domains may be related through a central theme, issue, problem, process, topic, or experience. The basic building block of interdisciplinary teaching is known as a theme, thematic unit, or unit. A unit is a detailed plan with desired goals/results which set expectations on what the students should know at the end of these experiences and tutorials included in the unit. The schools integrate different disciplines in two levels: In the first level, various language arts are integrated (listening, speaking, reading, writing, thinking); and in the second level, all curricular areas are integrated into one based on a theme.
Interdisciplinary teaching is gaining wide acceptance as an efficient method to answer some frequently occurring educational problems like fragmentation and isolated skill instruction. It can also help us in handling different aspects of education like knowledge transfer, training students on thinking and reasoning, and designing a more relevant curriculum for the students.
Benefits of Interdisciplinary Teaching
Interdisciplinary teaching refers to the methodology adopted in imparting of knowledge using an integration of content and skills simultaneously from several disciplines to teach one particular academic discipline. This is a highly motivational style of teaching since the students experience certain cohesiveness among learning of different school subjects taught in the scholastic session. Students view a definite relationship among the diverse disciplines and not as fragments of a whole. When students are tutored using this approach, they can use it as building blocks to add to their knowledge base, consolidating the connection between it and what they are in the process of learning. This inter-collaborative teaching establishes a level of thinking that is far superior and much needed for greater success in life.
Interdisciplinary teaching is a high-strung way of teaching and calls for teachers to have special skills and imagination. The trick is to bring the various branches of learning under one umbrella, yet keeping the pupils from feeling lost or uncomfortable. Increased thrust is given to the field of learning while taking maximum advantage of diverse viewpoints. With the elimination of elements of isolated, water-tight teaching, students actually begin to enjoy and come up with fresh ideas themselves.
Social studies incorporates the study of social sciences and humanities so that proficiency in community living is enhanced. Teaching of this subject needs special aptitude on the part of the teacher as she has to link whatever knowledge she is disseminating to real life situations of her students. Subjects such as history, geography, sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, civics, economics and religion are comprised under the broad term of "social studies". The composition and focus on each of the disciplines may however vary depending upon what the level the students are at, that is, primary, middle or high school. Any aspect dealing directly with human society falls under its purview.
