Target Learners: The target learners for this Learning Module are preservice teachers in an Elementary Education program. 

• Preservice teachers will be able to define "interdisciplinary unit" and describe its purposes.
• Preservice teachers will be able to explain the benefits of interdisciplinary learning.
• Preservice teachers will be able to choose nonfiction read alouds that would best accompany social studies content lessons.
• Preservice teachers will be able to create reader's theater scripts to accompany social studies lessons.
• Preservice teachers will be able to use creative ways to help their students write about social studies content.
• Preservice teachers will be able to teach students to participate in civil discussions and debates about social studies topics.
• Preservice teachers will be able to incorporate discussion and debate into interdisciplinary units.
• Preservice teachers will be able to interpret art using See, Wonder, Think.
• Preservice teachers will be able to describe ways in which fine arts can enhance social studies content.
• Preservice teachers will be able to create an overall plan for an interdisciplinary unit.
• Preservice teachers will be able to write objectives for an interdisciplinary unit.
• Preservice teachers will be able to create an interdisciplinary web.
• Preservice teachers will be able to plan assessment tools for an interdisciplinary unit.

 

Duration: 3 weeks

Materials Required: index cards, variety of nonfiction children's books, samples of different assessment types

Prior to beginning the Learning Module, please complete the Pre-Course Survey.

Learning Targets:

• I can define "interdisciplinary learning" and describe its purposes.
• I can explain the benefits of interdisciplinary learning.

Figure 1.

Reflect: Based on single-subject learning at school, children come to learn that their education takes place in short time intervals committed to each subject independently. What is the problem with this type of education?

The video below compares interdisciplinary learning to a triathlon. The speaker describes how her interdisciplinary background helped her to create something new to help children with Autism.

Video 1.

(TEDx Talks, 2016)

Deeper, longer-lasting learning takes place when learning is multimodal. This means that learning of all topics includes these modes: 

• Written Language
• Oral Language
• Visual Representation
• Audio Representation
• Tactile Representation
• Gestural Representation
• Spatial Representation

What is an Interdisciplinary Unit?

Interdisciplinary units combine all subject areas to create a unit or learning opportunity that gives students a deeper understanding of the main concept being taught. Below are some scholarly definitions of interdisciplinary units of study:

–“presenting issues, themes and problems that — to address or answer — require skills and knowledge from more than one subject” (Guido, 2013)

–“always begins with a central theme; students then investigate the theme using any disciplines that can assist in their inquiry” (Wood, 1997)

–“the use and integration of methods and analytical frameworks from more than one academic discipline to examine a theme, issue, question or topic. Interdisciplinary education makes use of disciplinary approaches to examine topics, but pushes beyond by: taking insights from a variety of relevant disciplines, synthesizing their contribution to understanding, and then integrating these ideas into a more complete, and hopefully coherent, framework of analysis” (SERC, 2018)

"a 'whole' or 'comprehensive' method that covers an idea, topic, or text by integrating multiple knowledge domains. It is a very powerful method of teaching that crosses the boundaries of a discipline or curriculum in order to enhance the scope and depth of learning. Each discipline sheds light on the topic like the facets of a gem" (Gerstein, 2019)

Instead of focusing on a single subject, an interdisciplinary unit focuses on a central theme. The students explore the central theme using skills and techniques from all disciplines. Interdisciplinary units place equal emphasis on process and content learning standards across subject areas. 

Figure 2.

IQ Card Activity

1. Read the attached article: 
   

   "Social Studies Around the Blacksmith's Forge"

    

2. After reading, write an Insight (I) on the front of the provided index card. What subjects were taught in this lesson? Why do you think it was helpful to teach these together? On the back, write a Question (Q) about the article. –
3. With your card, stand in a big circle.– Hand the card to the person on your right. Read the card you are holding. –Pass the card to the person on your right.– Continue reading and passing cards until you have read 10 insights. 
4. Whole Group: What did the Insights have in common? Were there any that stood out to you?
5. Pass the card to the next person on your right. This time, you will read the question each person wrote. Continue passing and reading until you have read 10 questions. 
6. Whole Group: What questions could you answer?– What questions stood out to you or were unanswerable? Write your name on the back of your card and turn it in to the Instructor.

Rather than teaching only about one topic, teachers can use interdisciplinary units to teach about many related things at once. For example, instead of just using tangrams as a math manipulative, the lesson linked below uses them across subject areas to provide experiential learning and opportunities for collaboration. The lesson gives students a chance to see that the things they learn in school apply in the real-world as well. 

Interdisciplinary Unit Example: Tangrams

Comment: After viewing the example above (Tangrams), why is it helpful to teach more than one subject together? What impact does it have on learning in this unit? Respond to peer comments with @Name.

Update: Choose an elementary grade level (1-6) and a social studies standard at that level. Briefly describe what social studies topics would be a part of a unit including the chosen standard. This standard/topic will be the basis of your final peer-reviewed project. Comment on at least 2 peer updates with ideas about what social studies topics your peers could include.

Learning Targets:

• I can choose nonfiction read alouds that would best accompany social studies content lessons.
• I can create reader's theater scripts to accompany social studies lessons.
• I can use creative ways to help my students write about social studies content.

Figure 3.

Nonfiction Read Alouds

Nonfiction is challenging:

• Content is usually written at a higher reading level 
• Students may not have the prior knowledge or experience necessary to be successful
• Nonfiction vocabulary is more specialized
• Text features may be unfamiliar (headings, captions, diagrams, bold words, etc)
• Text structure may be unfamiliar (sequencing, cause/effect, compare/contrast, problem/solution)

Nonfiction is important:

• It increases world knowledge and life-long nonfiction reading habits
• It allows students to read to learn new information
• It helps students to make sense of difficult topics
• It has more interesting images and text than most textbooks

The video below describes the 5 types of nonfiction books. 

Video 2.

(Colby Sharp, 2018)

Reflect: How can you use literature to teach social studies? Why would it be beneficial to use reading activities in your social studies lessons?

Check out this book list for some nonfiction books and series that will be helpful to use in your social studies lessons or to have in your future classroom library.

Reader's Theater

One multimodal reading/speaking activity that is helpful in interdisciplinary learning is Reader's Theater. Reader's theater is similar to a play, but it is much less formal. Below are some characteristics of reader's theater:

• Shared reading of a story or poem (in script format)
• Two or more readers
• Informal, lines may be practiced once before "presenting"
• Teacher can differentiate by assigning parts with different reading levels
• Children can use informal "costumes" such as head pieces, nametag necklaces, and simple masks

The video below has some helpful tips for using reader's theater in your classroom.

Video 3.

(Classroom Quick Tips, 2019)

How to use Reader's Theater in an Elementary Classroom

1. Select text (story, poem, book, event from history): Make sure text is interesting and relevant to current social studies content.
2. Prepare: Create or find script, copy, highlight parts for each student. Choose gestures and sound effects that will accompany the script.
3. Rehearse: Children can practice their lines silently or aloud.
4. Present: Students can stand in front of the classroom or remain at their seats as they fluently read through the script. 
5. Reflect: When finished, use questioning and discussion to reflect on the content of the reader's theater to make sure students have understood the material.

Watch the video below to see how a teacher models reader's theater. She includes modes such as gestures and sound effects that are helpful when students are learning about how people interact.

Video 4.

(Any Given Child Sarasota, 2017)

Reader's theater scripts can even be created by your students as a writing activity. Allow them to read a book, poem, or information about an event in history, and write their own scripts for the class (or a small group of students) to perform.

Reflect: How could you apply reader's theater in your own classroom? How could you integrate it into social studies lessons?

Writing

When teachers think about writing in the social studies classroom, they often refer to an essay or research-based informational paper. However, there are so many different ways to use writing in interdisciplinary learning. The infographic below describes some of these writing activities.

Figure 4.

The image below provides some ways in which you can support students with writing across the disciplines.

Figure 5.

Comment: Find one nonfiction social studies book or series that can be added to the classroom library document. Write a short summary of the book as a comment. Respond to peer comments with @Name.

Update: There are 2 choices for this update. Choose one option, attach it in your update, and write a brief reflection and rationale for it. Comment on at least 2 peer updates.

1. Create a nonfiction book list that can be used with your interdisciplinary unit.
2. Create a reader's theater script that can be used with your interdisciplinary unit.

 

Learning Targets:

• I can teach my students to participate in civil discussions and debates about social studies topics. 
• I can incorporate discussion and debate into my interdisciplinary unit.

As was discussed in the previous lesson, Reader's Theater is a literature-based activity involving reading and speaking. Discussion and debate are also verbal activities that can be used in interdisciplinary learning. They allow students to think about and react to topics related to the social studies content.

Integrating Discussion

What is classroom discussion?

• Conversation between or among people
• Sharing of information about a topic (a controversy, a problem, an event, a person, etc)
• Approach to build/share knowledge
• Based on the idea that something positive can occur when people are sharing their ideas on a topic and listening to others to express theirs
• Students talk and teacher facilitates by prompting or asking questions (and then steps out of the discussion)

Reflect: Why do discussions fail? What are important things to remember when facilitating classroom discussions? 

The chart below includes important things to consider when facilitating classroom discussions. 

Below is a description of several strategies that can help to streamline classroom discussions.

• Inside/Outside Circles: Using this strategy, students are positioned into an inside circle and an outside circle. The students are given a prompt to prepare for the discussion (it helps if the students are given time to write comments and questions about the topic beforehand). The inside circle discusses the topic first, while the outside circle observes and makes notes. Then, the outside circle gets to discuss the topic--responding to some of the comments made by the inside circle (Buehl, 2009). 
• Save the Last Word for Me: Students read an assigned passage or text. They use 5 index cards to write a statement from the text on the front and their response to the statement on the back of each. In small groups, one student reads his/her statement aloud to the group. The group reacts and responds to the statement. After all group members have had a chance to respond, the first person gets the last word by reading their personal response to the group (Buehl, 2009). 
• Discussion Web: The discussion web is a strategy that can be used to facilitate classroom discussions or debates (see next section). The teacher provides students with an organizer that has a yes/no question related to the content being studied in the center. The students then read and research to find reasons and conclusions for the "yes" and "no" sides. They may even provide their own thesis based on their research. This strategy helps students to consider all sides to an argument (Buehl, 2009).

Figure 6.

Integrating Debate

It is important for your students to learn how to use civil debate to talk to peers about difficult topics. Debate can allow students to see things from multiple perspectives. Using debate in an elementary classroom: 

• Engages students
• Helps students develop critical thinking skills
• Fosters presentation and public speaking skills
• Helps students learn to analyze information

The file below would be helpful for students of all grades to organize their thoughts before a debate.

In order to have civil debate in your classroom, it is important to teach your students to (Schulten, 2016):

• Create rules and structures to support respectful discussion
• Practice empathy
• Backup statements with evidence and sources
• Listen and ask genuine questions, rather than judging
• Expand your “filter bubble”
• Challenge your own confirmation bias

Primary Grade Debate:

One way to teach younger students to debate is to use a children's book as the basis of the debate. The activity below will model this type of debate. Watch the video read aloud of Hey, Little Ant.

Video 5.

(Mrs. Britton's Book Nook, 2019)

Students can be assigned to debate roles or they can choose for themselves. For this class, roles will be assigned. The debate statement is "The boy should squish the ant." Your group will be assigned AGREE or DISAGREE. ​

Take about 5 minutes to discuss your argument with your group. Make sure you think about what the counter-arguments may be so you are prepared with a rebuttal. 

Debate: Begin the debate with the AGREE group. Three minutes will be given for arguing the case. The DISAGREE group will then have an opportunity to give a rebuttal and state their case. Then, the AGREE group will respond and both sides will give a closing argument. 

Intermediate Grade Debate:

Students in grades 3-6 are ready to have debates about real-life topics and current events that affect them. The following debates are ideas that can be used in an intermediate classroom. 

• Role-Play Debate: Students take on the role of a person in the debate and argue as that person may argue. For example, if the debate statement is "Students should not have homework," the roles may be Teachers, Parents, and Students.
• Four Corners Debate: Students are presented with a debate statement. They organize themselves into four separate groups in the four corners of the classroom based on their own feelings: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree.

When using debate to learn about current events, it is important for your students to respect others' opinions. The list below includes ideas for how to help students learn to engage in civil debate.

Comment: What would your students learn from using a children's book-based debate in your classroom? Why do you think it is important for students to learn how to have a civil debate? Respond to peer comments with @Name.

Update: Create an update about a discussion or debate you would include in your interdisciplinary unit. Outline the topic and steps that you would take in the discussion/debate. Make sure it is appropriate for your chosen grade level. Comment on at least 2 peer updates.

Learning Targets:

• I can interpret art with the See, Wonder, Think strategy.
• I can integrate fine arts into my social studies unit.

Integrating Fine Arts:

Quick Write: Why would it be helpful to integrate fine arts into social studies?

How to Integrate Fine Arts:

1. Choose a social studies standard 
2. Choose a visual/performing arts standard that compliments the social studies standard 
3. Create learning objectives in both social studies and fine arts
4. Teach academic vocabulary and content for both subjects
5. Create a performance-based, authentic assessment for both subjects (Provide sufficient guidance and keep hands-on portion simple, provide scaffolding)
6. Collaborate with Art teacher if possible

Some Fine Arts/Social Studies activities could include:

• Performing —with contextual understanding—an artistic product that reflects the cultural context
• Creating an artistic product that reflects a historical perspective of the context or that uses a technique from the context to reflect on the historic perspective of your own times and culture
• Expressing geography through cartography, map making, model making
• Using an art form to express geographic concepts (dance of landforms, music of climate)
• Creating with materials specific to a geographic context
• Producing an artwork, including the budgeting aspects
• Creating a business plan (or actually implementing) an arts-based business
• Using an art form to express an economic concept
• Using an art form to express a concept of government
• Exploring artistic collaborations as structures similar to various forms of government
• Using an art form to interpret/comment on/express opinions about a civic issue or current event

The video below gives an example of how to use fine arts in an interdisciplinary social studies unit. Notice the See, Wonder, Think Strategy that the teacher uses to help students to interpret the art.

Video 6.

(Getty Museum, 2015)

Try the See, Wonder, Think Strategy: The instructor will present the slide show and you will write or discuss what you SEE in each piece of art, what you WONDER about each piece of art, and what you THINK or can infer about the art.

Comment: In your Quick Write, you described your thoughts at the beginning of this lesson. How have your thoughts changed? Why is it helpful to integrate fine arts into social studies? Respond to peer comments with @Name.

Update: Using the information provided in this lesson, add a fine arts activity to your interdisciplinary unit. In your update, explain what type of fine arts will be included, share the images of the art, and describe why this would help students to learn with the social studies content. Comment on at least 2 peer updates.

Learning Targets

• I can integrate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) into an interdisciplinary unit.

Ways to Integrate STEM with Social Studies:

Engaging STEM Introduction to Get Attention: Using an experiment or other STEM hook, a teacher can get the attention and piqué the interest of her students. For example, if the social studies content is about rural, urban, and suburban areas, the teacher could incorporate STEM by bringing the class on a field trip to learn about farm animals. If the class will learn about landforms and volcanoes, the teacher could do a baking soda and vinegar volcano demonstration to get the students excited.

STEM Icebreaker Activity: If the social studies content is more in the areas of psychology, sociology, social-emotional learning, etc., the teacher could use a STEM icebreaker to facilitate learning of skills such as cooperation, critical thinking, and perseverance. This link has some examples of STEM Icebreakers that can be used in an elementary classroom.

STEM Books: Just as you learned in Lesson 2, using read alouds can be helpful when students are learning about a new topic. By reading about historical inventions or discoveries, children can learn more about a specific time period they are studying. The books below are just a few examples of books that could be helpful when integrating STEM and social studies.

Figure 7.

Use Technology: Most children are naturally drawn to technology. It is motivating for them and provides multimodal ways to present information. By using technology in your social studies units, you can provide stronger learning opportunities. For example, using virtual field trips or virtual reality, students can "go" to places they may never have the opportunities to actually visit. They can feel like they are at Ground Zero or standing on the Great Wall of China.

Create a Design Challenge: Many social studies units include study of national landmarks, historical homes, bridges, or architecture. These provide opportunities for children to complete design challenges in the social studies content area. For example, in the image below, students created a Statue of Liberty circuit to make the "torch" light up. 

Figure 8.

Math/Money: Social studies concepts are full of dates. Students can use math to determine how long World War II lasted, or how many people immigrated at Ellis Island. They can also make charts and graphs to depict this mathematical information. Economics is also a social studies principle that lends itself well to math integration. For example, students can learn to create a budget or study how things goods/services bartered in Early America.

Comment: Why do you think integrating STEM can be beneficial to students? Choose one of the strategies described above and explain why it would be better to integrate the two subjects rather than keeping them separate. Respond to peer comments with @Name.

Update: Using the information presented above, create at least one STEM activity to include in your interdisciplinary unit. Describe the activity and how it relates to the overall unit. Comment on at least 2 peer updates.

Learning Targets:

• I can create an overall plan for an interdisciplinary unit.
• I can create objectives for an interdisciplinary unit.
• I can create an interdisciplinary web.

How to Plan an Interdisciplinary Unit:

1. Just as you have an objective when writing a lesson plan, you have an objective when creating an interdisciplinary unit. Your objective should be in the main content area (in this case, social studies). This objective will drive the general theme of the unit. 
2. Next, you will create specific, short-term objectives that will be related to all disciplines. 
3. Once you create your objectives, you will make a web to display the theme and interdisciplinary activities. This web will be described in more detail later in this lesson. 
4. Questioning is a major part of a lesson. An interdisciplinary unit needs to have questions written at all levels of Bloom's taxonomy. It is helpful to have a variety of questions written for each discipline.
5. Finally, create a classroom management plan for the unit and an assessment for the unit (this will be discussed in Lesson 6).

Primary (or Intermediate) Grades: Younger children will benefit from the use of centers to allow them to participate in many of the interdisciplinary activities. The list below includes guidelines for creating the unit.

• Complete the Interdisciplinary Unit Planning (above)
• Determine specific activities for each center
• Prepare task cards: give specific directions for activity in each center
• Assemble equipment and materials for each center
• Prepare location for center
• Prepare a schedule for use of centers
• Develop record-keeping device to make sure each student is able to visit each (or most) center(s)
• Designate a place for students to leave completed work
• Decide how to introduce center to class: Set behavior guidelines, explain center thoroughly

Intermediate Grades: Older students can participate in centers (see above) or they can use partner or independent studies to learn the content. To create these units, begin by following the directions above for Planning Interdisciplinary Units. Then, follow the steps below with your class.

• –Plan an introductory lesson
• –Describe how partner groups will work together to gather information and then present it to the class (student-led)
• –List tentative forms of evaluation
• –List materials
• Students complete activities of their choice (from the web) and present them in some way to the rest of the class.

Interdisciplinary Web:

An interdisciplinary unit is most easily represented using a web. It is a visual representation with the main theme in the center and the subject-areas and activities around it.

Figure 9.

The theme in the center should include the social studies objective (and possibly Essential Questions). This is the main goal of the entire unit. Each subject should then be included with its specific objective(s), questions, and activities. There are many types of interdisciplinary webs--the images below demonstrate what these webs could look like. *The first image is hard to see, so you may use the link to view it in Prezi.

Figure 10.

Figure 11.

Figure 12.

Comment: How would the interdisciplinary webs be helpful in planning your unit? Respond to peer comments with @Name.

Update: Create an interdisciplinary web and plan for your unit (use Canva, Google Drawings, or another graphic design program). Make sure to include the grade level and all objectives. Comment on at least 2 peer updates.

Learning Targets:

• I can plan an assessment for an interdisciplinary unit. 

Before discussing assessment in interdisciplinary units, it is important to recall the main purposes of assessment in an elementary classroom. Teachers assess students to gauge their needs, monitor progress, and check for understanding.

Figure 13.

Assessing Interdisciplinary Units

When planning an interdisciplinary unit, it is important to use the objectives and standards to plan appropriate assessments that will help you to judge student learning and mastery of concepts. 

Pre and Post Student Surveys: Just as you completed a survey at the beginning of this Learning Module, it is helpful to have your students complete surveys before and after the interdisciplinary unit. The pre-surveys can assess prior knowledge on the topic and experience with interdisciplinary learning. The post-surveys can assess learning that has taken place and mastery of objectives. It is helpful to include both types of surveys. Surveys can also measure the perceived effectiveness of the unit from the student's perspective.

Rubrics: Depending on which assessment tool you (or your students) choose, you will need to have a rubric, or several rubrics, to assess their final products. 

Peer Feedback: It is important to add some form of peer feedback into the assessment process. This can include peer conferencing or reviewing with a rubric. The addition of peer feedback helps both the student who created the project and the student who is giving the feedback. 

Other Assessment Tools: 

• Presentations to teach the class about what was learned
• Portfolios-These may include work and photographs of work completed during the unit. They usually include some sort of reflection at the end describing what was learned.
• Teacher Observations-teachers may use anecdotal notes or a checklist of skills to assess student progress

The chart below is helpful when combining Bloom's Taxonomy with creating questions and assessments for an interdisciplinary unit. Determine which type of knowledge the student is expected to gain, and which type of cognitive processes are required. 

Figure 14.

Just as you share learning targets with your students at the start of a lesson, you should share learning targets or goals for the unit with your students. It is important for them to know what they will be learning and what the expectations are for the unit.

Comment: Choose a type of assessment and describe why it would be helpful in an interdisciplinary unit. Are there any drawbacks to using that type of assessment? Respond to peer comments with @Name.

Update: Create assessments to align with your interdisciplinary unit. Begin your update with a brief overview of your unit. Then, describe your assessments and share them with your peers. Comment on at least 2 peer updates.

For the Peer-Reviewed Work in this Learning Module, you will use the things you have created in the updates and compile them to produce a complete interdisciplinary unit. See the steps below to complete your unit.

1. Choose a grade level and a social studies standard.
2. List social studies content that would be important for students to understand in order to master the standard.
3. ELA: Create a nonfiction book list and a reader's theater script to align with your theme/standard.
4. Oral Language: In one paragraph, describe a class discussion (topic, guiding questions, and strategies used) or a class debate (statement to be debated and structure of debate).
5. Fine Arts: Choose at least one piece of fine art to analyze and one art project for students to create. Describe how the art integration would help students to learn the social studies content.
6. Web: Create an interdisciplinary web (using Canva, Google Drawings, or another design program) with the main social studies standard in the center and activities to align with other disciplines surrounding it. Make sure to include at least 10 different activities in at least 5 of the following disciplines: –Reading, Writing, –Speaking/Listening, –Math, –Science, –Health/PE, –Music, –Art.
7. Choose Unit Management Type: You can choose to create a center-based unit or more of an independent (or partner) study. Both should begin with an introductory lesson presented to the whole class. 
8. Assessment: Determine the assessment types that will be included. This will help you to know if the students have mastered the content. Be sure to include at least one survey and at least one rubric.

The following rubric will be used to assess your work through peer feedback, personal feedback, and instructor feedback.