Current collaborations
Interdisciplinary collaboration is defined by Andrews (1990) as occurring "when different professionals, possessing unique knowledge, skills, organizational perspectives, and personal attributes, engage in coordinated problem solving for a common purpose" (cited in Berg-Weger &. Schneider, 1998). When I think about the interdisciplinary collaboration in my school, there is no systemic approach within the levels that I teach. It is up to individual teachers to reach out to the teachers who teach ‘other subjects’ and collaborate. The justification could be made that this allows collaboration to be specific to the interests and learning goals of the class, rather than ‘ticking boxes’ for a curriculum check.
Examples of collaboration
In my practice I have always found the teachers I have approached to be eager to share their expertise, materials and time. For the last few years our year 7 class has made photo frames as a way of learning about perimeter and area. They often get the ideas muddled up so covering the frame with material or backing it with card reinforces the understanding of area while edging with ribbon or coloured string reinforces perimeter. We use the Art room for the painting and gluing part as well as the final decorating with glitter and coloured shapes. Over the last couple of years we have moved towards a modern learning environment with tables and tote trays rather than individual desks in the classroom. A couple of projects that students could choose to be involved with were making cushions at lunchtime and creating and decorating a box to keep them in. For these projects the Soft Materials and Art teachers were involved.
Examples of collaboration
In my practice I have always found the teachers I have approached to be eager to share their expertise, materials and time. For the last few years our year 7 class has made photo frames as a way of learning about perimeter and area. They often get the ideas muddled up so covering the frame with material or backing it with card reinforces the understanding of area while edging with ribbon or coloured string reinforces perimeter. We use the Art room for the painting and gluing part as well as the final decorating with glitter and coloured shapes. Over the last couple of years we have moved towards a modern learning environment with tables and tote trays rather than individual desks in the classroom. A couple of projects that students could choose to be involved with were making cushions at lunchtime and creating and decorating a box to keep them in. For these projects the Soft Materials and Art teachers were involved.
Reflecting on past projects
Thinking about these projects I can see that I have chosen subject areas that I already have some knowledge of and teachers that I feel comfortable working with - nothing to do with Hard Materials or Music! By making these choices I am limiting the “knowledge, skills and organizational perspectives” that the class are being exposed to. The maths project was compulsory so could be seen as less authentic as students were not able to follow their own interests. These projects have been one off, rather than ongoing interdisciplinary collaboration.
My next goal
Looking at the connection map and thinking about a collaboration that could be more ongoing, my next goal could be to work with the Science teacher as this class continues for the year, rather than a term. We would need to discuss our common goals, qualities/attitudes and workplace conditions as detailed in “A Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration”. I think that we would start with something short term and build as we learn what works. There would need to be joint planning and our ‘standing meetings’ would be when our class lines up to go into the Science classroom. A challenge for our interdisciplinary practice would be to establish authentic common goals for our collaboration. A theme from the literature that may work for us is described by Mathison and Freeman (1997) as “teaching approaches that place research and inquiry skills in the center of curriculum organisation”. Maintaining enthusiasm and therefore the desire to continue the collaboration could be difficult so starting with a short term collaboration will be a good stepping stone to further potential collaborations.
Benefits
Mathison and Freeman assert that an “authentic and connected curriculum” is needed. They state that “forming connections between fields of knowledge is an essential need for success in the 21st Century”. These connections allow for the sharing of ideas and methods, rather than compartmentalising the skills and knowledge. They are well suited to helping students make sense of information and connect it to their world and the needs of everyday living.
References
ACRLog. (2015). A Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Retrieved from http://acrlog.org/2015/05/14/a-conceptual-model-for-interdisciplinary-collaboration
Berg-Weger, M., &. Schneider, F. D. (1998). Interdisciplinary collaboration in social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 34, 97-107.
Mathison,S.. & Freeman, M.(1997). The logic of interdisciplinary studies. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, 1997. Retrieved from http://www.albany.edu/cela/reports/mathisonlogic12004.pdf:
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