The Avant Gardist

March 29, 2010

---Lindsey Chang

7th grade Team, 7th grade English

Interdisciplinary Learning at MBTA

In an effort to prepare our seventh graders for the 21^st century, we created a course with 21^st century learning skills in mind. We produced an interdisciplinary course between language arts and social studies which allowed the students to achieve a deep understanding of the subjects as well as work on essential learning skills. In the first term, Hawaiian Literature was fully integrated with Modern Hawaiian History, and in the second term, Pacific Island literature was taught in conjunction with Pacific Island Studies.

Interdisciplinary learning is thought to address one of the recurring problems in education, which is fragmentation and isolated skill instruction. In the real world people must use knowledge from all disciplines to solve problems and come up with creative solutions. With this in mind, we created a course which allowed students to progressively build on their knowledge throughout the term, and incorporate ideas they learned from the social studies class into English and vice versa. We encouraged the students make connections between related ideas, and analyze how parts of the whole interact and affect each other. For example, in Hawaiian History, students learned important dates and facts about the arrival of the missionaries to Hawaii. They attained a good understanding of the numbers of missionaries, where they came from, where they settled, and how they gained political and economic power. In English class, the students were able to read deeply personal primary documents written by missionaries themselves. This gave the students an opportunity to really get into daily living for the missionaries and understand their thoughts and intentions intimately. In this way students were able to process the events which occurred in Hawaii on a deeper level and understand how events, personalities, politics, and economic interests created the Hawaii we know today.

Based on the feedback we received from the students, the interdisciplinary approach to learning was an overwhelmingly positive experience for the students. The sum of this integrated class truly was greater than its parts, and the students proved this. At the end of just 10 short weeks the students had proven to be well versed on Hawaiian History and Literature and well on their way to mastering 21^st century skills.