Week 31:
“As with any boundary crossing, expanding our ideas about ‘who
belongs’ presents challenges to the existing culture.” (Stoll et al 2007)
My interdisciplinary
connections map looks like a map of the London Underground. What I find most interesting is the relative
sizes of the branches of this tree. The ‘regular’
classroom learning branches of literacy, numeracy and science are relatively
small but the social media branch is huge in comparison. The Putaiao / science stem is also
significantly enlarged representing my recent journey of teaching through a
STEM based curriculum with a project based learning focus. I
think this gives a valid visual representation of the way in which my personal
learning and interactions with others has grown over the past few years.
I have used my growing
understanding of the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary learning to
change the way I teach in the classroom.
I have moved to a more
project based learning environment and I have tried to enable students to
become empowered learners. I have done
this through basing my teaching on science, technology and enviroschools as
thematic focii.
Jones (2009 p 76)
states that “interdisciplinary techniques allow students to see different
perspectives, work in groups and make the synthesizing of disciplines the
ultimate goal.”
My experience has been
that students do begin to see different perspectives and they do work in groups. As a primary teacher, the synthesis of
disciplines is not my ultimate goal for my students, my ultimate goal is to
engage them fully in their learning using real world contexts that have meaning
for them. To this end, cultural
perspectives need to be incorporated into the learning. Magga (2004) describes quality education for
indigenous people as being based on their own culture, knowledge, languages and
learning and teaching traditions. “From
this platform we will be able to reach for the best in the global garden of
knowledge.” (cited in King and Schielmann, 2004:10) My learning from my MindLab studies has shown
me that in Te Ao Māori, interdisciplinary studies were the norm. Geographic and genealogical
locations were taught, as were important social and cultural icons. There was no separation between these areas
as the more extensive a person’s knowledge and understanding of these things,
the more mana they derived from this.
Teaching in a school with more than 50% Māori and Pasifika
students, I need to move forward with this tradition making links with the NZ
Curriculum. In this way, the voice of my community is heard while the learning
experience of the students both links back to tradition and forward with 21st
Century learning skills and habits.
Our world is interdisciplinary in nature and becomes more
so each day. As education moves in this
direction, we need to ensure we have systems in place to
support culturally democratic learning and to develop effective assessment
strategies to record success and progress for students.
References:
Jones, C.(2009). Interdisciplinary approach - Advantages, disadvantages,
and the future benefits of interdisciplinary studies. ESSAI, 7(26),
76-81. Retrieved from http://dc.cod.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=essai
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:
Stoll, L &,
Seashore Louis, K. (Eds.).(2007). Professional Learning Communities:
Divergence, Depth And Dilemmas. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Thaman, K. (2016, December
6th). Culture Matters in teaching and learning. (K. Thaman, Performer)
Aronui Lecture Series, Wellington, New Zealand.
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