Complementing the aims of problem-based inquiry, a pedagogical approach called design thinking (DT) has students grapple with issues that require a creative redefinition and reimagining of solutions akin to professional skills of designers, who consider conflicting priorities and complex negotiations to arrive at a solution to an ill-defined…

Originally published as a special issue of the "Middle School Journal," this book presents integrative curriculum as a foundational element of the middle school. By addressing the current gap in literature on curriculum integration in the middle grades, this text explores how learning can be organized around authentic concepts or…

For the past several years, leaders in middle grades education research have strengthened their call for more methodologically robust quantitative research to address important questions in the field. Recently, two important routes towards addressing this call have emerged: the Middle Grades Longitudinal Study from the National Center for…

This article addresses the interrelated questions of why it is important to teach students about the nature of interdisciplinarity and how this material might be best communicated to students. It is important to define for students what is meant by disciplines and interdisciplinarity. Having distinguished interdisciplinarity from the disciplinary…

Given the widespread use and success of cross-functional teams in industry and the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business's focus on the importance of interdisciplinary education, many business schools have incorporated interdisciplinary elements into their curricula. This study examined current student and alumni perceptions of the…

The chapters in this book reflect the work of science and mathematics educators who have worked for many years at the international level. As members of the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education, their work provides readers with issues, models, practices, and research results that have applicability and…

This compendium of information and resources can be used as guide to those interested in curriculum integration as an effort toward school reform. The compendium summarizes the work of the Keystone Integrated Framework Project. It also provides information to those who wish to explore the possibilities of curriculum integration in their own…

Using the Biomedical Sciences Preparatory Program (BioPrep) for illustration, this paper discusses an approach to educational improvement through the development of curriculum that emphasizes experiential learning and the involvement of students in real-life problems. Opening sections describe BioPrep, a program designed to prepare rural high…

Describes the effects upon the attitude and achievement of a group of below average sixth grade readers generated by enriching the language arts curriculum from a literature base to a science base. Results indicate that attitude did not improve overall, but the achievement measure increased for 12 of the 17 students. The attitude survey is…

These curriculum units were developed by participants in the National Endowment for the Humanities seminar at the University of Oregon in 1993. The lessons include: (1) "Schule, Freunde, Liebe: Wien um die Jahrhundertwende (School, Friends, Love: Vienna at the Turn of the Century)" (Linda Hansen; Glenn Tetterton-Opheim); (2) "Kultur…

Current reform in mathematics and science education advocates the integration of science and mathematics teaching and learning as a means of improving achievement and attitudes within both disciplines. This bibliography is a collaborative effort involving the ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education; the National…

Provides an example of the integration of science and mathematics learning of one high school physics student in a constructivist classroom. Discusses the student's integration of mathematical and nonmathematical representations and of different mathematical representations in a nonuniform acceleration experiment. Describes a model for integrating…

Regis College (Massachusetts) has expanded student learning skills through through changes in the management program toward increasing integration of management and liberal arts disciplines and increased opportunities for cooperative and experiential learning. The program stresses making conceptual connections and part/whole relations in…

The main purpose of this symposium was to find new ideas and resources for the evaluation and improvement of physics education on all levels. The papers included in this document are entitled: (1) "Quality of Physics Teaching Through Building Models and Advancing Research Skills"; (2) "Evaluation of Physics Education in Terms of Its…

This document contains 11 papers on researching service learning through a multidisciplinary lens. The following papers are included: "Introduction" (Shelley H. Billig, Andrew Furco); "Stretching to Meet the Challenge: Improving the Quality of Research to Improve the Quality of Service-Learning" (Janet Eyler);…