Threshold concepts have been widely utilized to understand learning in academic disciplines and student experiences in a disciplinary curriculum. This study considered how threshold concepts might operate within an interdisciplinary setting. Data were collected through interviews with 40 doctoral students enrolled in an interdisciplinary program…

This paper considers curriculum integration in the secondary school context and investigates the claims made that it can enhance learning outcomes for students. I argue that curriculum integration should be utilized not as a main means of curricular delivery but as a supplementary opportunity to put disciplinary knowledge to use in certain,…

Higher education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) faces a number of challenges. There are many calls for STEM education to make significant changes moving forward, including calls for competency-based learning and greater integration of the humanities. These efforts require systemic change. Systemic change has significant…

An integrated curriculum that is transdisciplinary in nature seems to be a good fit for 21st Century learning. There are, however, few examples of transdisciplinary curriculum at the K to 12 level. One exception is the International Baccalaureate's Primary Years Programme (PYP) which features transdisciplinary curriculum for students from ages 3…

Contextualized by efforts to support arts integration in one of the largest school districts in the United States, this qualitative study examines the experiences of educators as they participate in various arts-centred forms of professional development. Drawing on the work of, the tenets of arts-centered learning, the authors use Mediated…

Adding instructional time and holding teachers accountable for teaching social studies are touted as practical, logical steps toward reforming the age-old tradition of marginalization. This qualitative case study of an urban elementary school, examines how nine teachers and one administrator enacted district reforms that added 45 minutes to the…

As teacher collaboration becomes an increasingly common goal in school organization, teachers' experiences and perspectives in a Structured Collaboration Environment remain under-examined. This qualitative case study explored how teachers participated in collaborative work, the outcomes of collaboration, and supports and obstacles to productive…

This paper investigates Lebanese grade 7 biology teachers' mathematical knowledge and skills, by exploring how they explain a visual representation in an activity depending on the mathematical concept "Function". Twenty Lebanese in-service biology teachers participated in the study, and were interviewed about their explanation for the…

New curricular orientations in the secondary schools of many Western countries invite teachers of STEM school subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to integrate these school subjects (Czerniak, 2008). In Quebec, such interdisciplinarity is not a mere recommendation, but an official component of the curriculum (a…

The integration of mathematics and science teaching and learning facilitates student learning, engagement, motivation, problem-solving, criticality and real-life application. However, the actual implementation of an integrative approach to the teaching and learning of both subjects at classroom level, with in-service teachers working…

In this qualitative research study, we sought to understand teachers' conceptions of integrated mathematics. The participants were teachers in the first year of implementation of a state-mandated, high school integrated mathematics curriculum. The primary data sources for this study included focus group and individual interviews. Through our…

The integration of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) serves to develop creative thinking and twenty-first-century skills in the classroom (Maeda 2012). Learning through STEAM promotes novelty, innovation, ingenuity, and task-specific purposefulness to solve real-world problems--all aspects that define creativity. Lisa…

In this qualitative study, we examined eleven Singapore teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning as related to their experiences implementing integrated curriculum. Interviews revealed that the teachers' conceptions of integration spanned the spectrum of ideas found in relevant literature. Further, although participants saw benefits to…

CoTA (Collaborations: Teachers and Artists) is a professional development program that empowers teachers to access the arts in everyday instruction to support student achievement. CoTA schools commit to intense, 3-year collaborations for ten weeks each year where teachers learn to capitalize on arts content and strategies to promote knowledge and…

A revision of the Northern Ireland Primary Curriculum took place in 2007. It promotes strongly a cross-curricular or thematic approach to planning and teaching and has an "Area of Learning" structure which includes geography alongside history and science and technology in an area called "The World Around Us". Responses from…