What does Cross Curricular instruction mean?
"Through my window I see walls, trees, people walking by, cars, birds, clouds and the occasional airplane – I understand none of them fully from the perspective of just one curriculum subject. I describe and appreciate the cherry tree outside using a combination of geographical, artistic, poetic, philosophical and historical vocabularies. Others might perceive the same scene by linking thoughts from mathematics, science, design, music, movement or religious education.”
- Jonathan Barnes (2015)
- Jonathan Barnes (2015)
The term cross-curricular is widely used in the education system. However, as Barnes describes, we experience it in our everyday lives.
- Cross-curricular teaching takes the approach of mixing and combining the content of two or more subject areas and teaches them in unison. This teaching approach understands that students are humans and like everyone else in the world, they learn and take in information from multiple sources so why not teach it that way?
- While some educational psychologist such as Gardner and Hirsch believe in the importance of learning specific knowledge and skills in each discipline, Gardner see’s the importance of integrating transferable knowledge across learning which is exactly what cross-curricular teaching is all about.
- Adopting skills and knowledge across multiple disciplines allowing for the students to gain a wider range of knowledge amongst multiple disciplines at once. As Barnes (2015) mentions, there is no disadvantage “between single-subject learning and cross-curricular learning; both can exist profitably side by side.” However, I propose that single disciplinary courses limits collaboration amongst teachers and creates homogeny of course material.
- Cross-curricular instruction takes the conscious approach of applying curriculum in academic disciplines simultaneously.
- Additionally, even though the subjects such as Science and Foods seem to contest each other, these disciplines can relate through a central theme, process, topic or experience.