T H E E F F E C T O N S T U D E N T E N G A G E M E N T

Interdisciplinary Instruction

Introduction

The traditional secondary school model separates disciplines into individual classes.

Interdisciplinary instruction aims to connect the disciplines - using knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines to solve problems.

The premise of interdisciplinary instruction encourages ... “a more complete, and hopefully coherent, framework of analysis that offers a richer understanding of the issue under examination.”

Goldsmith

Past studies of interdisciplinary studies measure success based upon academic results.

The following study of interdisciplinary studies measures its success upon the engagement and interest of the students, based upon their responses.

“Should the developmental needs of young adolescents determine the content of the curriculum? Should we be thinking about what the students themselves want to learn?”

Duerr (2008)

The idea for the study

“Polyunsaturated hydrocarbons? I’ve heard of polyunsaturated fats in Food Tech... They must be related!”

Mary*, Year 11 student

Engagement is key

“Students certainly don’t have short attention spans for their games, movies, music, or Internet surfing. More and more, they just don’t tolerate the old ways—and they are enraged we are not doing better by them.”

Prensky, 2005

Methodology

Target audience: Year 11 Chemistry Students

Readily accessible

Easy to integrate interdisciplinary links into classes

Students have a wide range of interests to link to.

Students completed an evaluation survey of their perception of interest level, new content shown and understanding.

Methodology

Classroom activities were created to highlight connections between chemistry knowledge and application in other fields.

Nomenclature Background (Language)

Chemical Bonding Role Play (Kinaesthetic)

Creation of Animations (ICT)

Stoichiometry Practice (Mathematics)

Biodegradability Studies(Naturalist)

Surface Chemistry Experiments (Food Technology)

Nanotechnology Case Studies (Humanities & Legal)

Results

Raw Data

For visual identification, responses of 1 (the lowest ranking) are red, 2s are yellow, 3s are light green, 4s are deep green and 5s are blue.

Data Analysis Data for each question was categorised into 4 sets

for analysis: All Students

Continuing students only*

Males only

Females only

Responses for each question was then averaged, and grouped by activity and question type.

*The difference in averaged results between set 1 and 2 were found to be negligible, so set 2 is not included in this presentation.

Set 1: All Students

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Nomenclature Role Play Animations Stoichiometry Environmental Concerns

Round Robin Nanotechnology Concerns

Interest New content Understanding

Common Findings

Student responses for all questions to the survey were particularly positive – only 23% of students gave responses < 3, only 1.2% indicated a value of 1 (the lowest ranking).

The perception of new content was shown to be consistent across all activities, with two exceptions.

A significant relationship between interest and understanding responses for 5 out of 7 activities.

Male (blue) and Female (red) responses

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Language connection Role Play Animation Stoichiometry Environmental Concerns

Round Robin Nanotechnology Concerns

Interest New Content Understanding

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Language connection Role Play Animation Stoichiometry Environmental Concerns

Round Robin Nanotechnology Concerns

Interest New Content Understanding

Comparisons between genders

Male students reported more interest and new content perception for the Stoichiometry (Maths) activity than female students, but females reported a greater level of understanding.

Female students reported more interest in both the Environmental activity overall, and reported greater interest and understanding for the Surface Chemistry (Food Tech) activity

Discussion

Analysis of data demonstrates a close relationship between student’s interest level and their perception of understanding of the concept and connections in 4 out of the 7 activities run in the classroom.

Of the 3 activities that did not follow the trend, in-class observations of student behaviour and verbal responses have been used to explain the discrepancies.

Discrepancy 1: Role Play Activity

Students would use their arms and legs to show single, double and triple bonds with group members, and explore what the process of addition and condensation reactions looked like. Ranked lower in terms of interest: this is likely to be because

teenagers tend to avoid physical performance in front of peers.

Ranked highly* for perception of understanding: the role play allowed students to (literally) connect with others, the process of bonding, and how the process could be applied in multiple areas.

Students were seen re-enacting the role-play (while sitting down, to avoid attention) during revision sessions.

*Perception of understanding was rated equal first (with Surface Chemistry Exploration) in the entire study

Discrepancy 2: Animations

Students were provided with laptops and appropriate software to create animated diagrams of the processes of fractional distillation and cracking. Student interest was ranked very highly (2nd of all activities):

this is likely due to the introduction of laptops into the class.

However, understanding of the concepts was rated lower: Students were observed to be spending more time familiarising themselves with the technology, than focussing on the content task.

Students also agreed unanimously that while enjoyable, they needed more time to review the concepts next lesson.

Discrepancy 3: Stoichiometry

Balancing equations and calculating limiting reagents in reactions relies heavily on numerical skills – the activity explicitly highlighted the skills needed from mathematics classes in previous years.

Student interest ranked lowest of all activities: this was completely expected, as this topic is known to be very dry.

Understanding rankings were significantly higher than interest however: Upon explicit linking to factorising and fractions from Year 9 Maths, no less than 10 students were overheard saying "Oh, is that it? I thought it would be harder than that..."

Discrepancy 4: Additional Survey Questions

“Would you be interested if more of these interdisciplinary activities were used in this class / other classes?“ 94% of students responded yes... student interest in additional

activities may be influenced by alternative motives.

“Did these activities help form stronger links with any of your other subjects? If yes, please describe.” 97% of students responded yes... But only 43% of students actually

specified which subjects, and none indicated anymore than the subject title. Deeper thinking was not expressed in the response.

The addition of binary questions to the survey was ineffective in producing specific and unambiguous results – in future more specific questions requiring worded responses should be used instead.

Conclusion

From the results, interdisciplinary studies present an engaging alternative to isolated studies. However, while presenting promising results, more research is needed, due to the limitations of the study.

To improve the study, the size of the study group should be expanded to include students of multiple year levels, interests and personalities , as well as improvements to questionnaires (specific thought provoking questions and less of binary questions.)

References

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Brualdi, A 1996, 'Multiple Intelligences: Gardner's Theory', ERIC/AC Digest Series, retrieved 4 May, 2013 <http://www.springhurst.org/articles/MItheory.htm>.

Bolak, K., Bialach, D., & Dunphy, M 2005, 'Standards-based, thematic units integrate the arts and energize students and teachers', Middle School Journal, vol. 31, no. 2, p 18, retrieved 7 April, 2013, <http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ752840.pdf>.

Duerr, L 2008, 'Interdisciplinary Instruction', Education Horizons, vol. 86, no.3, p 173, retrieved 4 April, 2013, <http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ798522.pdf>.

Goldsmith, A n.d, 'Interdisciplinary Approaches to Teaching', retrieved 4 April, 2013, <http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/interdisciplinary/index.html>.

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Jones, C, 2009, 'Interdisciplinary Approach - Advantages, Disadvantages, and the Future Benefits of Interdisciplinary Studies,' ESSAI: vol. 7, no. 26, p 77, retrieved 5 April, 2013, <http://dc.cod.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=essai>.

McDonald, J & Czerniak, C 1994, 'Developing Interdisciplinary Units', School Science and Mathematics, vol. 94, no.1, pp. 5-6, retrieved 4 April, 2013, <http://courses.ttu.edu/thomas/courses/6370-Summer06/Articles/Article-interdiscunits.ssma.pdf>.

Prensky, M 2005, 'Engage me or Enrage me', Educause review, September 2005, retrieved 5 May, 2013, <http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0553.pdf>.

Wood, K 2009, Interdisciplinary Instruction for All Learners K-8: A Practical Guide, 4th edn, Allyn & Bacon, retrieved 4 April, 2013, <http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780137137084/downloads/Wood_Ch1_IntroductiontoInterdisciplinaryInstruction.pdf>.