Chapter 5
of the text asks: “In a science essay, for example, should the English teacher
be considered a valid assessor of the science content?” (147)
But what I
want to know is: should a science essay be considered a valid demonstration of
prowess in English?
I have
created a little dialogue to illustrate my skepticism:
Professor:
Just to get us started with our study of Julius
Caesar, can anyone tell me some of the common themes of Shakespearian
tragedies?
First-year
English class: …
Professor:
*Looks around the room at one hundred blank faces* No one can think of
anything?
First-year
English student: *Raises hand*
Professor:
Yes, you sir in the back!
First-year
English student: I’m sorry Professor, but we never learned about Shakespeare in
our school. We just learned to write essays and stuff in our science and
history classes.
Professor:
*Drops dead*
Okay, so my
example might be a little exaggerated, but this is a real concern! If you’ve
decided to implement an integrated curriculum, how are you going to make sure
that this messy laundry pile of subjects are all given the same amount of
attention when thrown together in the machine we call education?
Alright,
I’m done with analogies and metaphors now, I swear.
What my
little dialogue was trying to illustrate is that teachers have to be really careful with how they attempt an
integrated curriculum to avoid creating subject hierarchies. If you’re trying
to teach literacy skills by integrating them into a science unit, how can you
make sure that one subject isn’t overpowering the other?
In Chapter
5 of the textbook, the issue of assessing various subjects in an integrated
curriculum is addressed: “How do you make a distinction between social studies
and science, for example, when teaching the concept of cause and effect? For
many teachers the answer is that they do not differentiate. Rather they give a ‘mark’
for concept development in both science and social studies.” (146).
I have a big
problem with this framework. Sure, the students are coming away with knowledge
about how “cause and effect” work, but the concepts of “cause and effect” in
social studies compared with “cause and effect” in the sciences is a completely
different animal. How can you possibly give students the same mark in both
subjects when you think about trying to understand, for example, a “cause and
effect” principle in physics (not even going to attempt a detailed example here, I’ve blocked grade eleven physics
permanently from my memory) and a “cause and effect” principle in sociology?
One is based on a rigid framework of mathematical equations and formulae, while
the other is based on research and data collection. But hey, if you understand
what “cause and effect” means in general, that’s all you need! Here’s your A+,
now run along and be whatever you want to be!
I can
assure you that my competencies in the idea of “cause and effect” in sociology
is leaps and bounds ahead of my understanding of “cause and effect” in physics.
It just doesn’t work.
Based on
the positive results that seemed to have come out of most of the research we
found on integrated curriculums in our class discussion, I’m not dismissing it altogether.
I would just argue that integrated curriculums belong only in elementary
schools where learning strategies and thinking skills are more important than
actual in-depth concepts. If I’m in grade twelve and I’m hoping to pursue
English post-secondary, I don’t want to be getting my English curriculum
through writing an essay about science. When you get to high school, you’re
bordering on specialization. It’s way too risky to attempt an integrated
curriculum when it’s becoming increasingly important for bodies of knowledge to
transcend to upper years. There’s too
great of a chance that subjects will be slighted or undermined in the mix.
And as much
as I would have rather studied different texts in replace of Shakespeare, I’m
extremely grateful for the knowledge I attained (no matter how painful it was
at times). And I’m even more grateful that my English competencies were never judged through my science, or history,
or math, or physical education competencies.
Gym
teacher: I would like you to do as many laps around this gym as there are lines
in Hamlet’s soliloquy!
Me: See? It
just doesn’t work.
 |
| Since this week's entry talks specifically about high school, I thought I would speed up my educational journey a little bit to the secondary years. I'm pretty sure this was that physics class I've mentioned. I'm smiling here but I'm actually crying on the inside, I assure you. |
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