(Is it too late to pull of this year?)
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Possible Interdisciplinary Projects
(Is it too late to pull of this year?)
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(Is it too late to pull of this year?)
(Is it too late to pull of this year?)
Right now, the freshman are amazed that Lang A, Hum, and Bio are all discussing interesting issues that coincide - comparative religions, creation stories, and evolution. They think we're brilliant, though it was an accident! perhaps we could create something in our first units for the freshman next year? Probably too late to do this now.
ReplyDeleteI'd also love to see us create a freshman service project that connects to our curriculum somehow.
ReplyDeleteWe do have students working on National History Day essays that may invite some interdiscplinary learning. The next obvious answer is that history is often connected to English. It might be more fun and challenging to connect with another discipline like business, science, or technology, though. I think interdisciplinary thinking is often very exciting.
ReplyDeleteHistory can be looked at through a lens of technological advancements. Why not have kids build/model a particular device and defend its importance to history?
ReplyDeleteI am really trying to make a connection between health and culture this year. I think it would be great if we could somehow tie this with a culture that is being discussed in history/humanities/world language classes. Although I really don't know what classes MYP freshmen are required to take!
ReplyDeleteI liked the project that we used to do with the "the map on the gym floor, united nations thing". I know in math that we focuse on population growth and trends.
ReplyDeleteI have this great stitchery unit I call "A Stitch In Time"(pun intended) I would love to make a stitchery timeline using these pieces of art. Tom Lundburg (Fibers prof at CSU)is excited about this and thinks it could go into one of the CSU galleries next summer. Wouldn't that be cool? I would love to have a History or English teacher to coop with on this project.
ReplyDeleteI think I made an incorrect and off-comment topic for the last question. Elissa's mention of the "map on the gym floor united nations thing" (way to go, math teacher) makes me think that could be a good visual vehicle for interdisciplinary learning.
ReplyDeleteI think the Sustainable Living Fair (Future Friday event just for students) this Friday is a good event for interdisciplinary work. I am going with a focus on how science and technology positively and negatively impact our world. This could be used for tech classes (sustainable design and product life cycles), history classes (industrial revolution and our new greeny energy revolution similarities), art (how the arts influence or reflect our global population crisis, government (how policies guide our economy and social structure), PE (biking to reduce carbon output, healthy local food choices) etc etc
ReplyDeleteI do hear from students discussing some aspects of other classes relating to Biology. The best way may be to have some set time to talk with teachers and find specificially where these connections are. My initial thoughts would be the Genetics/Technology/Ethics, Evolution, and Ecology/Environmental issues, all seem to have the motst potential.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought that Language A and Humanities have so many ways in which a interdisciplinary unit would fit naturally. It sounds like maybe the first unit of the year would work well. We also have a unit related to the technological developments of the Islamic Empires, which I think could work well with Gordon's suggestion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Megan... we do sound brilliant! But we would be even better if we actually discussed our activities. I've always been impressed with biology and how the science staff has reevaluated how literature fits in with science. I often try to use specific scientific terms when discussing writing literary analysis. I would love to continue to discuss these connections and create opportunities for writing more non-ficition pieces with the 9th graders.
ReplyDeleteI am using environmental data to make mathematical models- linear, quadratic and, hopefully this year, polynomial.
ReplyDeleteI would like to get a unit going with tech ed and having designing different fitness equipment using human inguiniuty.
ReplyDeleteKeep it simple....years ago we tried to do some interdisciplanary lessons that grew into monsters, therefore it was dropped.
ReplyDeleteA Humanities unit combining English and history, or English and art. It would be great to explore the conenction between art and writing.
ReplyDeleteA Poverty Simulation could be a project that united several disciplines -- science, social studies, English, Lang. B. I'd like to see International Day include activities like the Pov. Sim. and the "map on the floor" options so that the international experience is authentic and relevant.
ReplyDeleteKathie -
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! They grew into these big things that were unrealistic. I see smaller connections that could be created easily if we had a little more time to communicate:)
I would love to connect culture to environment this year! I have some cool ideas for coinciding a cultural lesson with how various countries treat their planet. I could try to coordinate with the science classes when having these discussions. I want my students to think about how each community affects the world, and later how we are all interconnected!!
ReplyDeleteI need to think about this one. We are doing one right now where the kids work on cover letters in Spanish and we will do a health brochure next chapter. We try to incorporate the other disciplines but have not talked about these activities with the other subject areas for awhile.
ReplyDeleteMy hope is that if you read an interesting idea or comment that inspires an idea of your own you will follow up and at least have a premilinary conversation as to what this could look like. I'm going to take all of your comments and create a list of possibilities so the more specific you can be, the better.
ReplyDeleteI would love to do a science and history interdisciplinary unit. I would like students to "step into" another era and try to get into the mindset of a scientist of the time to understand how what was happening in the world or their part of the world influenced their scientific discovery, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think it is most tempting to emphasize the humanities possibilities with Language B, but I think a lot of our essential questions have more to do with more fundamental personal issues that may tie in best with health and PE.
ReplyDeleteJ.Malone- I felt rushed today to really think this through and my processor speed isn't super fast. I will read more another time.
ReplyDeleteCool Kelly S.!
ReplyDeleteThe study of Technology lends itself to connections and overlap in virtually every discipline. Americans never seem to tire of telling ourselves and the world how we have created a “technological society”. Many seem delighted about this and appear to believe wholeheartedly that the pathway to a fulfilling life is through continuous technological change. One would expect, then, that technology education would be a familiar, well-respected aspect of school curricula. But, sadly, it is not. Technology may have entered almost every classroom in America, but not technology education.
ReplyDeleteDoes the average high school or college graduate know where the alphabet comes from? Does she or he know something about its development, or anything about its psychic and social effects? Do they know anything about the origin of moveable type, the printing press and its role in reshaping Western culture? About the origins of newspapers and magazines? Do our graduates know where clocks come from? How about telescopes, microscopes, x-rays, computers and their origins? Do they have any idea how such technologies have changed the economic, social, and political fabric of Western culture? Could they say who Morse, Daguerre, Bell, Edison, Marconi, De Forest, Pulitzer, Hearst, Eisenstein, and Von Neumann were? After all, it is reasonable to say that these people, and others like them, actually invented the modern technological society.
Is it too much to expect that those who live in and partake of the fruits of such a society know something about the people who built it and what it was those people thought they were building?
I find it truly astonishing that the great story of humanity’s perilous and exciting romance with technological innovation goes largely untold. It would seem that no matter where you turn now-a-days, there are books, articles, films, and television shows on the subject of how technology has remade the world and continues to remake it. But why do our students have no familiarity with the writings of Martin Heidegger, Lewis Mumford, Elizabeth Eisenstein, Loren Eisley, Herbert Schiller, or Jerry Mander, to name but a few. And why is there no consideration of Alduous Huxley, George Orwell, or Ray Bradbury?
If, as every ballyhoo seems to claim, we are living in the information age, why then do we not have subject in which students address such questions as these: how does information differ in symbolic form? How are ideographs different from phoenetic letters? How are images different from words? Speech different from writing? Paintings from photographs? Television from books? Information comes in so many different forms, at different velocities, and in different qualities; how do these differences matter? Do these differences have varying psychic or social effects? The questions are nearly endless. This is a serious subject, fertile ground.
We need time to plan these connections that are SO meaningful and worthwhile. I love everyone's ideas. I'm just wondering when to plan these??
ReplyDeleteEmily- it seems like we have something in common-the desire to work together. I have an idea that we could start with, but it needs some spin...do you want to converse via email?
ReplyDeleteIn the past, I have had students compose music as a response to what they see at the PHS art show. If I can fit it into a semester, I would be interested in working with science to get into more detail about the structure of sound.
ReplyDelete