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Running head: CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

Content Knowledge in Interdisciplinary Curriculum


Lauren Bohenek
Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495-496 Field Experience ePortoflio, Spring 2016

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Introduction

Within a classroom there are specific times for each lesson and subject, and in typical
classrooms major headings are math, reading, language arts, and content. However there are
several benefits when interdisciplinary curriculum is implemented and students make
connections between learned skills and other subject areas. For example by correlating math and
science together students are able to dig deeper into the standards and develop better analysis
skills. Big ideas in lessons should be transferrable across the curriculum by "applying to many
other inquiries...across subjects and through the years in later courses" (Wiggins & McTighe,
2005, p.69) Therefore when teachers demonstrate cross-curricular teaching this holds students
accountable to higher level thinking and also provides them with realistic application of the
learned topic.
Rationale for Artifacts
Within my 1st grade classroom at King's Grant Elementary I chose to incorporate science
into a writing lesson, and my first artifact is my lesson plan. This lesson took two days for the
students to complete and it integrated science SOL 1.4- "Students will investigate and understand
that plants have basic life needs and functional parts and can be classified according to certain
characteristics (b) basic parts of plants"- with the weekly writing goal (Standards of Learning).
On the first day I hooked students into the topic by presenting a Brain Pop Jr. video that
discussed the four basic plant parts' functions. After discussing the video, I led a guided writing
activity in which the students and I completed a writing graphic organizer on plant parts and their
functions. Therefore this lesson is a demonstration of content knowledge in an interdisciplinary
curriculum. Also within the lower level grades, Kindergarten and 1st grade, many schools

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

combine content with another major subject. Thus interdisciplinary teaching is common for
primary grade teachers at King's Grant.
For the second artifact, I chose samples of students' writing that resulted from the whole
group graphic organizer lesson. On the second day students demonstrated their understanding of
plant functions by writing a brief essay. This helped students to make connections between class
discussions and presenting comprehension of plants in their own words. During the writing,
students were also able to use the diagram on their plant journals as a resource. This writing
prompt challenged students to higher level of thinking than is typically required in first grade.
However I was pleasantly surprised that many students rose to task and did very well at the
application of formulating their understandings into words for the writing assignment. In
addition, this task provided students with continual practice on their writing skills of beginning
capitalization, ending punctuation, and creating complete sentences.
Reflection on Theory and Practice
During my professional preparation at Regent, I have discovered the value of integrating
subjects. Not only does this allow students to uncover "ahah" moments when materials are
presented in a different perspective, but it also helps students to see that knowledge is
transferable from subject to subject. It is important for students to broaden their horizons and see
how all topics taught in the classroom are interrelated; and according to Wiggins and McTighe
these are commonly known as overarching understandings (2005). Therefore in the field, it is
exciting to see that many schools are gradually applying this approach in lower grades by
combing instructional time for writing and science and/or social studies.

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

With regards to science it is important to incorporate these skills into all subjects, thus
this is another form of interdisciplinary curriculum. Through my Regent studies I discovered that
many high-level questions, which include words such as analyze, conclude, and explain, are
scientific in nature and are great ways to apply scientific skills into other subject areas.
According to Romano, two key areas for students to become better citizens are explanation and
argumentation. He argues that teachers should incorporate more opportunities for summaries,
drawing understandings, classroom debates, and writing explanations (Romano, 2013). Through
my lesson I attempted to include these ideas by asking first graders to summarize basic plant
parts and write individual explanations. In addition, students were given the opportunity to draw
their understandings once the writing component was complete. Therefore my Regent studies
have opened my eyes to interdisciplinary curriculum and methods for implementing this teaching
technique.

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References

McTighe, J & Wiggins, G. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Romano, M. (2013). From content to skills. The New Teacher's Toolbox, March 2013, 12.
Virginia Beach Standards of Learning. (2014). Grade 1 Unit 6: Plants. Virginia Beach:
VBCPS

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