Re: Together With Social Science Class 10 Pdf Download
Phyllis Sterlin
I wonder why you never write about curriculum integration. This year my district is all about including social studies in all of our lessons and my sister (a teacher in another state) is doing something like that with science in the upper grades. Do you have any advice for teachers like us?
In the late 1990s, I wrote about curricular integration with a great deal of angst (Shanahan, 1997). At that time, there were only a handful of studies that had explored the impact of combining reading with writing or any other subject. Even worse, those few efforts were unsuccessful; teaching various subjects together seemed to result in less learning, not more. We had good reasons to think integration could be beneficial, but no real supporting evidence. What a disappointment.
Since then, there have been dozens of studies exploring issues of curriculum integration. As research has progressed, the newer studies have become more ambitious in curriculum design, more detailed in their results, and more rigorous in their research design. There has been so much of that kind of work we even have several meta-analyses of it.
For example, a meta-analysis of more than 100 studies, grades 2-12, reported that having students write about the texts they were reading improved reading comprehension and the learning of information from the texts (Graham & Hebert, 2010). Writing about the texts had a bigger impact on learning than reading or reading and rereading. Various kinds of writing in response to texts were effective. Text summarizations or retellings were most effective with younger students and more extended writings (analysis, critique, synthesis) had a bigger learning payoff for the older ones.
Another body of studies has examined reading instruction in the context of middle school and high school social studies and science classes. These studies (Swanson, Wanzek, Vaughn, Roberts, & Fall, 2015; Vaughn et al., 2013; Wanzek, Swanson, Roberts, Vaughn, & Kent, 2015) emphasized text reading, connecting text-based learning to prior learning, and applying the knowledge gained from texts to problem-solving activities in the content areas. Such literacy activities enhanced performance on measures of content knowledge, content reading comprehension, and standardized reading comprehension.
Recently, this kind of research has taken an important turn. Now there are high-quality studies that have examined the impacts of curricular integration in elementary school, including in the primary grades.
For instance, the use of learning projects that address a combination of social studies and literacy standards led to increased learning of both content and improved ability to read informational text (Duke, Halvorsen, Strachan, Kim, & Konstantopoulos, 2021). That study took place in second-grade classrooms.
2. Also, it is important to remember that the reading teachers have special responsibilities when it comes to literature. Literature is a content, just like social studies and science. It seems wise to focus some reading units on the reading of informational or expositional texts. It is just as wise to provide a similarly sharp focus on reading literature and understanding how it works.
4. Some states/districts/schools limit what can be included in their literacy block. Those rules and regs would prevent teachers from the kind of curriculum integration discussed here. Those limitations should be rethought to allow teachers to teach students to read social studies and science, including the use of informational texts that may not be drawn from the approved reading textbooks.
6. The research has produced several successful examples of integration. I assure you that in none of these cases did they just slap the subjects together. No, they came up with well-organized schemes for these combinations. For example, a common practice was to focus on culminating reports, projects, electronic presentations, and so on. These outcomes helped to make the student efforts purposeful, provided motivation, and allowed teachers and students to appraise the learning. Also, there were schemes for connecting new concepts to student knowledge and to clarify the meaning of what was read (with teachers and the other students), there were research and information recording systems, and organizational schemes that included whole class, small group, and individual work. Teachers that want to take on the challenge of integrated instruction would be advised to follow these models closely.
7. Finally, it is crucial that teachers recognize that curriculum integration is more than an alternative way of teaching. Its purpose, ultimately, is to increase the intellectual challenge of our curriculum and to foster a greater depth and appreciation of knowledge and research. In these studies, that was often evident in the curriculum designs, though surprisingly, it was rarely addressed in the evaluations. Integrated instruction should do more than improve reading comprehension (e.g, understanding or remembering facts). With such curricula, students should be reading more critically (such as recognizing the fallibility of sources). And, content outcomes should be more than longer lists of facts the students have managed to memorize but a deeper understanding and appreciation of the nature and value of scientific and historical knowledge.
Guthrie, J. T. (2003). Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction: Practices of Teaching Reading for Understanding. In C. Snow & A. Sweet (Eds.), Reading for Understanding: Implications of RAND Report for Education. New York: Guilford.
Tim,
I so enjoy reading your blog -- always such insightful perspectives and valuable advise! Your response on "Integrating Literacy instruction into Content Classes" was so instructive. Thanks for continuing to have such a significant impact on the field of education and literacy!! Keep up the great work!
Dr. Shanahan,
Grateful for this article. I teach in a first-grade dual language immersion class. I teach reading, writing, math and social studies in English. My partner teaches reading, writing, and science in Spanish. Together we have 48 students. We teach the same lessons twice daily. We have about 2.25 hours to teach each class. Integration is essential. The district instructed us to teach explicit phonics for no more than 20 minutes daily. I only teach the sounds that are not transferable, but 20 minutes is not enough sometimes. Do you have any advice on how to be more focused and intentional with the phonics? Are there any resources you recommend? It has been difficult to find the right balance.
Maria
Maria--
Most of the studies of phonics that found such instruction to be beneficial provided about 30 minutes per day of such teaching. If you are only allowed to provide 20 minutes (a mistake I think), then it has to be very well planned and managed. I definitely would use some of this time to have students writing the words -- like spelling words and sentence dictation.
Good luck.
tim
In addition to preparing students for careers and advanced study, a baccalaureate education should prepare students for satisfying personal, social and civic lives. Students should both acquire a depth of knowledge in a particular academic or professional discipline and also be broadly educated, with knowledge of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to address an array of questions. They should develop the general intellectual skills required to continue learning throughout their lives. The ASU general studies requirements complement the undergraduate major by developing critical learning skills, investigating the traditional branches of knowledge, and introducing students to approaches applicable to addressing contemporary challenges.
Effective fall 2024, ASU undergraduate students are required to complete the General Studies Gold requirements. Students who began their degree at ASU before fall 2024 and are in a catalog year previous to 2024-2025, are required to complete the General Studies Maroon requirements. More information about what these changes mean and answers to some frequently asked questions are available on the Provost general studies page.
The degree requirements applicable for a student's catalog year are displayed on their major map. For more information on the determination of catalog year, students should reference the undergraduate graduation requirements.
General Studies Gold includes courses in nine required categories. Courses fulfilling each category are noted in the course catalog. General studies courses are regularly reviewed and are occasionally added to and deleted from the list. A student receives the general studies credit that a course carries during the semester in which the course is taken. Students should consult the course catalog each semester to determine which courses meet general studies requirements.
The humanities explore questions of human existence and meaning, the nature of thinking and knowing, and moral and aesthetic experience. Humanities reflect on values of all kinds and seek to make the human mind more analytical, contemplative and expansive. They are often concerned with the study of textual and artistic practices of cultures, such as traditions in literature, philosophy, religion, ethics, history and aesthetics; the humanities also explore human thought and action and its application to human environments. They deepen awareness of the breadth of human heritages, traditions and histories; build literacy and critical thinking skills in evidence analysis and argumentation; and implicitly or explicitly promote the application of this knowledge to contemporary societies.
The study of arts and design deepens our awareness of human societies and cultures. The arts have as a primary purpose the creation and study of objects, installations, performances and other means of expressing or conveying aesthetic concepts and ideas. Design study concerns itself with material objects, images and spaces; their historical development; and their significance in society and culture. Disciplines in the arts and design often employ nonverbal modes of thought and communication, and courses in these areas tend to focus on sounds, objects, images and structures, or on the practical techniques and historical development of, and innovation in, artistic and design traditions.
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