Worms and Sharks and Bears . . . Oh My!

Educational leaders today agree that the old model of the individual teacher, lecturing to their students from the front of the class, and isolating his or her teaching to a single subject, i.e. history, math, science, etc., is long outmoded. Instead, in an ideal situation, teachers from different subjects are encouraged to collaborate across disciplines with common themes, and learning in one subject is reinforced in another. This concept, known as interdisciplinary learning, can be as simple as English and history teachers in the same grade agreeing to tying literary texts in one with the historical narrative in another, or it can even be more daring - asking math students to write in a journal explaining their thinking as they solve various problems.

Unfortunately, in an educational environment that demands more and more statistical accountability through testing and the achievement of strict benchmarking standards, there is little time for interdisciplinary learning, let alone collaboration between teachers and disciplines. Outside of the elementary school teacher who, as the sole instructor in the classroom, has the freedom to illustrate for students the connections that are possible, our system of education demands specialization, and thus isolation from supportive learning and interaction. When the sole object of learning is, out of necessity, achieving high marks on an end of the year exam, there is little room for collaboration, creativity, or increased comprehension.

Fortunately, there are schools that allow themselves to step outside of this literal "box", and attempt to forge these vital links between seemingly disparate subjects. At Global School, our budding 5th and 6th grade scientists in Mrs. Jordan's class recently discovered just how much they can benefit from interdisciplinary learning.

Our story begins with the group learning how to classify the various species of animals. To illustrate the concept more clearly, and to add a little spice - if not sugar - to the process, Mrs. Jordan used gummy critters in place of real creatures. Somehow, it's easier to handle gummy worms, butterflies, sharks and bears - after all, one can always eat them if they get out of hand. To make the students think even harder, Mrs. Jordan introduced a multi-colored carrot, asking them to think of possible common denominators and characteristics between the various Kingdoms. Regardless of their subject's behavior and/or flavor, the students were still having some difficulty visualizing and understanding the principles of classification.

Enter our technology instructor, Mrs. Parikh. Because we actively cultivate a collaborative environment between teachers and grades, thereby reinforcing our commitment to not teach subjects in isolation, Mrs. Jordan and Mrs. Parikh put their heads together and considered ways to increase their students' understanding. The end result was that in their next technology class, the students were asked to write their projects in paragraph form and graph them. As part of the process, they also learned how to insert a table into a document, enter information into Microsoft Excel, and convert the information into a bar graph.

In taking a rather complex topic like classification, and approaching the subject from different angles and successfully integrating the application of technology into the learning process, the teachers placed the students' understanding first, and their own territorial interests second. Better yet, the vital principles of teamwork and collaboration were illustrated first hand for all involved.

However, despite the learning of all of these vital lessons, there is a high price to pay for such interdisciplinary work. It seems that other than the bars and charts posted in their classroom, there is virtually no evidence left of the original gummy animals - and not a single witness has come forward. It is a mystery still haunting Global School to this day . . .