Integrated Cirriculum Research Paper - 965 Words

Integrated Cirriculum Research Paper Integrated curriculums are constantly becoming more popular with educators each and every day. It seems that with this increased enthusiasm there should also be an increased activity of integration taking place within the classroom. This, however, does not seem to be the case. Math and Science integration has been widely talked about and supported by educators young and old, but critics state that there is little evidence to show the effectiveness of integration in the classroom. The reasons for the integration of subjects in the classroom are many and easily understood. â€Å"Mathematics and science can easily be integrated given that mathematics is often the â€Å"tool† for doing and†¦show more content†¦However, in the midst of this rush to support an integrated curriculum, many educators question the effectiveness of an integrated curriculum, and they also question the lack of research supporting integration over traditional curriculum. (Czerniak, 1999) It seems that a definition for the term integration cannot be easily agreed upon. (Huntley, 1999) In fact there are so many different terms for integration that it’s easy to see why many would question its effectiveness. The terms include interdisciplinary, thematic, nested, transdisciplinary, integrated, connected, sequenced, shared, webbed, threaded, immersed, networked, blended, unified, coordinated, fused, teamed and multidisciplinary. This can only indicate the lack of coherence regarding what is meant by science and math integration. (Judson 2000) Within these different terms you will also most likely find different meanings for different educators. Without a clear focused definition we cannot have â€Å"a basis for designing, carrying out, and interpreting the results of research.† (Czerniak, 1999) Even if we can get by this lack of definition and see math and science integration at work in the classroom we might see some of the disadvantages of integration that critics are talking about. One example is research showing how integration and thematic instruction in math and science is quite restricting because concepts included are narrowed to a specific framework.