As 25 6th graders from a small school in an affluent area of Asheville, North Carolina, stepped off the two new school vans, the rural surroundings looked somewhat foreboding. It was an overcast day, and in the dim light, the plain school building before them appeared shabby and in need of repair. The smell reeking from the Pigeon River across the street augmented the dismal atmosphere. And then there was a daunting sign, “Warning: Dioxin.”
The Asheville students entered the small country school, which serves 70 children in grades K–8. The visiting students were amazed to see birds flying freely to their nests in the open hallways.
In the classrooms, the visitors met their hosts. At first, both groups of students were reluctant to mix. They sat awkwardly in pairs and small groups. At the teachers' encouragement, the students began to converse shyly, the guests dutifully asking questions and taking notes on their partners' replies.
To break the ice still further, the principal of the school (who also taught 7th and 8th grades) persuaded a few of his students to perform a rap that they had written about their community's problems. The lively beat and stirring message soon led to animated conversation between the two groups of students.
As the 90-minute visit progressed, the children gradually became engrossed in a variety of activities. Some walked along the river with host students. Others chatted in groups on the floor of the classrooms. Three students were fascinated by scrapbooks in the school library. The task-oriented few taped interviews with teachers.
On the surface, the visit appeared to be a casual exchange between students from different locales. The young people from Asheville, however, actually learned a great deal about life in a rural Tennessee town. They heard how the lifeblood of the community, the Pigeon River, is contaminated by toxic chemicals, often has an unnatural coffee-like color, and always smells like rotten eggs due to the wastewater discharge from a paper mill 50 miles upstream. On discovering that many of the 600 residents suspect that the flood of pollution is implicated in the cancer-related deaths of loved ones, the students sensed the frustration that stems from years of unsuccessful attempts to get people to listen and care and act. Students also began to grasp the difficulty of influencing the large, powerful paper industry.
Back at their home school the next day, the students eagerly began to write about their experiences. They portrayed the individuals they interviewed, describing not only physical attributes, but personalities and attitudes. They accurately depicted the school, community, and lifestyles encountered. They ventured beyond interview transcripts and observations to interject their own thoughts. Their powerful, moving documentaries revealed a genuine understanding of one side of a complex environmental issue involving many different points of view.
But this assignment required more than clear images and candor. Before the trip, the interviewers had been (1) primed to take complete notes, which would later be organized and summarized; (2) instructed to write with great detail and precision, making sure of all the facts used; and (3) urged to use quotations to emphasize certain points or add interest to their stories.
Integrating Several Subjects
This 6th grade trip to rural Tennessee was not an isolated event, but one of the many hands-on experiences in a 12-week interdisciplinary unit. Designed to make each student an expert on paper making, stream pollution, and the controversy whirling around dumping toxic wastes into a previously scenic river, the unit also prompts students to learn and use important concepts in science, social studies, language arts, and mathematics.
Teachers from each of the four subject areas devoted a great deal of time and effort to planning the unit. When implemented, however, it unfolded so beautifully that it surprised even the most optimistic members of the team, prompted further curriculum development, and led a movement to change the entire middle school program to one organized around interdisciplinary thematic units and team teaching.
Throughout the implementation of the unit, the teachers made a point of not differentiating among the subject areas. During the planning phase, though, each of the teachers represented his or her discipline, and each had two clear-cut responsibilities: to make sure that content and skills from each subject were developed during the unit and to provide suggestions as to how this might be done.
In science, the unit activities came to center on river pollution, with a special emphasis on wastewater discharge from pulp and paper mills. A state environmental management official spoke to the students about the facts in the Pigeon River pollution and explained the system used to monitor stream pollution. Prior to their trip, the students practiced stream sampling. During the trip, they compared their own data to results from the state regulatory agencies.
Students heard a former paper industry executive talk about paper making, and then they toured a mill. On their return to school, the students tried making paper. After experimenting for nearly a week, exuberant voices rang through the school: “It worked! We made paper!”
At the end of the unit, students completed an extensive written exam. The science teacher said that he had never seen such a thorough grasp of complex scientific concepts in a group of 6th graders.
In social studies, the students studied the issue of toxic waste dumping. First, they examined files on the subject in the local library. Thereafter, they followed the news for updates. In the process, they began to understand the political, economic, and social implications of a large industry where jobs, livelihoods, and consumer convenience have to be weighed against the environment, health, and the preservation of natural resources.
In perceiving these trade-offs, students learned that there are many sides to an issue. It also became clear that in order to look at a problem objectively, facts must be disentangled from opinions. Another key revelation was that responsible action can only be taken if citizens are informed. For their part, the students became keenly aware and involved. In fact, by the end of the unit, the students knew more about this local controversy than many of their well-informed parents and teachers.
Meanwhile, the language arts teachers jumped at every chance to involve the students in authentic communication. Guest speakers, tours, interviews, and presentations provided wonderful occasions to practice the listening and note-taking necessary to prepare oral and written presentations.
Writing assignments included an exposition called “How to Make Paper,” interview write-ups, and position papers.
Reading played a key part in the entire process, too. From newspaper articles, notes, and hand-outs, learners developed their own chronology of important events. Weekly vocabulary lists included paper-making terms, such as lignin, tannin, and dioxin.
Speaking opportunities abounded as well. The 6th graders became quite adept at interviewing techniques, and through dramatic portrayals of fictional characters who might have been involved in the controversy, the students stated their own views and responded to others' opinions. Each student also participated in a dialogue as part of the final examination.
Mathematics skills were acquired and applied during the stream-sampling efforts, since collecting and manipulating the data (on, for instance, stream depth, velocity, and temperature) required computation and the application of mathematical formulas. To help plan the overnight field trip to the paper mill and the rural Tennessee school, students were called upon to develop personal budgets. They also had to manage their money and record their expenses during the trip.
Forming Interdisciplinary Teams
One of the best ways to integrate the curriculum is to pull all of the subject-area teachers together to develop thematic units. The team can look first at the characteristics and needs of their learners—academic, social/emotional, and physical—and then design specific units with clear objectives and appropriate activities tailored to meet the identified needs.
Each teacher on the team contributes to the planning and thus develops a sense of ownership for the unit. The team members share the responsibility for setting up special activities, collecting materials, and contacting community resource people.
One giant hurdle that the interdisciplinary team must clear is the temptation to force integration of the curriculum by stringing existing activities together. The inclination is understandable—any veteran educator has accumulated mounds of teaching materials that save time and effort.
All the same, if team members are to focus on a fresh new theme, they must let go of old, comfortable props. Planning all-new activities may prove tedious and time-consuming, but the ultimate rewards make the effort worthwhile.
Choosing a Theme
The success of an interdisciplinary unit depends on a good choice of themes. For several reasons, we have found a controversial local issue makes a good topic. First, it ignites student interest in ways that other studies can't. Students begin to examine the needs of their own community through previously unexplored sources of information and find many ways to become involved and make contributions. Through interviews of local citizens and leaders, students come to see that no problem is as simple or one-sided as it appears and that few problems have perfect or easy solutions.
In addition, local issues present many ways to bring the community into the classroom; such opportunities include guest speakers, demonstrations, and displays of student research results. Finally, community resources are close—often just a phone call away. Parents, especially, often become so enthused that they offer assistance or just find common ground for talking with their child.
The themes for an effective unit must be relevant and thought-provoking, for if the topic is meaningful for others in the school and community, people will want to hear what the students have to say about it—and nothing motivates like a captivated audience.
And, while it is important for each of the subject-area experts to make sure that activities are included from each discipline, learners, too, can influence decisions about themes or activities. The students might brainstorm ideas and discuss them prior to the teaching team's decision, or the process could work in reverse, with the team generating ideas for the students to discuss and choose.
No Problem-Free Units
The development of an interdisciplinary unit is unlikely to be problem-free. The example that we have described was no exception!
Initially, there were some doubts about the value of such a project. Our team also experienced some typical problems: philosophical differences; scheduling conflicts; perceptions that some members were not doing their fair share of the work; and a harried sense of too-much-to-do-and-nowhere-near-enough-time-to-do-it.
Nonetheless, all the members of the team are now convinced that the benefits of this powerful learning experience cannot be matched by any departmentalized teaching approach.
Maybe one of the reasons for the teachers' ultimate commitment to the concept is the way students responded. After the two-day field trip, one student reported back to an administrator. “It was great!” she declared. She had only one complaint, “All we did was learn, learn, learn!”
