What Is Integrated Curriculum In Early Childhood Education?
An integrated curriculum allows children to pursue learning in a holistic way, without the restrictions often imposed by subject boundaries. In early childhood programs it focuses upon the inter-relatedness of all curricular areas in helping children acquire basic learning tools.
View complete answer
Contents
What is an example of integrated curriculum?
Defining Integrated Curriculum – The ambiguity of definitions for IC has troubled researchers and hindered practitioner understanding ( Klein, 1990 ; Czerniak et al., 1999 ; Pang and Good, 2000 ; Hurley, 2001 ; Lenoir and Hasni, 2010 ). For some, integration within the subject areas itself or intradisciplinary curriculum is considered to be IC.
For example, science would be taught as a general science rather than as biology, physics, and chemistry. Fusion is another low level integration in which something is fused into different subject areas. For example, environmental stewardship or peace education or a 21st century skill such as creativity could be infused into all subjects and all grades.
For many researchers, IC can be described as falling on a continuum as in Figure 1 where the degree of integration increases. 
Figure 1. An example of a continuum of integration. A multidisciplinary curriculum is more integrated. Content, instruction and assessment are specific to each discipline. However, the disciplines share a common theme or concept such as “water.” Students study the topic or theme through the separate lens of each subject.
Connections among disciplines may or may not be made explicit by the various disciplinary teachers or at learning centers with one teacher. In an interdisciplinary curriculum, disciplines remain somewhat distinct, but their connections are stronger and made explicit. Boundaries are blurred when subjects are organized around a key interdisciplinary concept such as sustainability, or around complex interdisciplinary skills such as critical thinking or competencies such as intercultural competency.
Interdisciplinary projects provide a context for the exploration and blending of the subjects. Often interdisciplinary team members share instruction and assessment to ensure that disciplinary standards are met. A transdisciplinary curriculum is the most integrated model.
Students begin with an authentic real-world issue rather than with the disciplines. Students’ own interests often generate the starting point. For example, they may wish to explore solutions to the problem of traffic congestion in their city using many different disciplinary perspectives. Some versions of project-based learning (PBL) fall into the transdisciplinary realm.
Seeing IC as a continuum may be a useful way of demonstrating its variety of form, and it might describe stages of professional development that educators go through as they experiment with increasing degrees of integration ( Brazee and Cappelluti, 1995 ; Bergstrom, 1998 ; Snapp, 2006 ).
However, presenting integration as a continuum in any form has raised concerns. One objection is that a continuum could imply an inappropriate hierarchy: more progressive than, more innovative than, better than ( Chrysostomou, 2004 ; Rennie et al., 2012 ). Another is that a continuum oversimplifies the complexity of IC and ignores its history ( Hargreaves et al., 1996 ; Dowden, 2007, 2011 ).
Beane (1997) viewed his “integrative” model (what we would describe as “transdisciplinary”) as the only truly integrated one. He and Hopkins (1935, 1937) perceived models on the continuum to be only a rearrangement of subject areas and without acknowledging the centrality of the students and the broader social purposes of progressivism ( Dowden, 2007 ).
View complete answer
What is integrated approach in early childhood?
Integrated teaching and learning means that early childhood professionals build opportunities in early childhood programs for children to interact with their environment, both physical and social, in response to their own hypotheses or curiosity about how their world works, and to interact with other children and
View complete answer
What is meant by integrated curriculum?
An integrated curriculum implies learning that is synthesized across traditional subject areas and learning experiences that are designed to be mutually reinforcing. This approach develops the child’s ability to transfer their learning to other settings.
View complete answer
What is integrated curriculum in teaching?
What is Integrated Curriculum and How Does It Benefit Students? – In a, integrated curriculum is are not uncommon. And these informal performances revolve around various themes covering different topics. In one skit, you may find the nursery students depicting the concept of the solar system, clearly explaining how the Earth moves around the Sun.
In another, you may see a performance where students showcase how technology has both helped and divested humanity and the necessity to keep an emphasis on the former. Are these skits only about arts? Are the students only learning how to act, sing or dance? As you might have already guessed, the participating students also learn about science and technology through the theme they enact and this is the simple definition of an integrated curriculum.
So, what do we mean by integrated curriculum? The technical definition of integrated curriculum is any pedagogical approach that integrates or unifies two or more subjects and experiences. The correlation can range from casual attention to remotely related topics to a planned explanation of interrelated disciplines.
- An integrated curriculum binds multiple subjects into a common theme and strives to provide a depth of knowledge at all levels.
- Although the concept is not new, the integrated curriculum became a buzzword in the 21 st century.
- The have it mentioned in their educational mission as a crucial aspect of their pedagogy.
Types of integrated curriculum Integrating multiple subjects into a common theme can happen in the following three ways: Bringing together all the branches or subcategories of a broader subject and teaching students the connection among the same. The classic example is social sciences where government functioning, economics and math are taught as an integration.
Fusion or multidisciplinary
Science is the best example. Forces taught in physics can easily be connected to chemical reactions in chemistry which, in turn, is an influential concept in biology that explains human metabolism. Multiple disciplines are taught together and students are shown the bridge that connects them all.
Service-learning or transdisciplinary
A type of integrated curriculum where real-world issues are connected to the theory taught in the classrooms. Through various social drives, students can come across real-world issues that are challenging humanity now. From climate change to food scarcity, these need solutions.
Transdisciplinary integration connects the science and skills that the top nursery schools in Gurgaon school teaches to these issues and prompts students to brainstorm solutions that can be put into effect. The benefits of learning in an integrated curriculum The first outright benefit that an integrated curriculum has on students is 21 st -century skill development.
Today, the world is integrating almost everything where healthcare is receiving a boost from technology and history is helping financial analysts. Teaching related subjects in isolation no longer make sense. Second, an integrated curriculum creates intrinsic motivation.
A student may not be solely interested in learning physics but its connected with chemistry or biology may seem interesting. Students who are intrinsically motivated to learn something show better performance than the group who learns just for the sake of education. Studies have shown that learning in an integrated curriculum has almost always led to deeper knowledge retention.
Third, integrated curriculum directly helps in collaborative and communicative skill development. A professor in Florida, United States, found that her students reported better reading and writing comprehension when she changed her teaching strategy from lecturing about science to building wind and rain machines.
The act of building something prompted students to communicate with each other, work in a team and develop their soft skills. And lastly, students learning in an integrated curriculum has shown the capacity to think on a higher level. The Florida professor also noted that when students built wind and rain machines instead of just reading about condensation and evaporation in textbooks, they could actually relate to the mechanics of the same and started brainstorming about ideas that could harness wind’s and rain’s powers.
Integrated learning opens up the mind’s imaginative potential by giving it a broader view. Today, if you list top nursery schools in Gurgaon that have always focused on having an integrated curriculum, the Alpine Convent School has to be the first name.
The school’s management has been forward enough to include the concept in its pedagogy since the institute’s inception. Alpine’s vision is to make responsible citizens of the society and to turn its students into inspiration for others. The management along with the faculty continues to strive to fine-tune the quality of education in the school and uphold modern approaches like in the best possible way.
: Integrated Curriculum And It’s New Benefits – 2022 Guide
View complete answer
Why is integrative teaching important in early childhood?
The integrated approach: Giving kids a meaningful learning experience T he integrated approach helps pupils get a unified view of reality, and enhances their capability to acquire real-life skills. It does this by linking learning content between and among subject areas.
There is integration when pupils are able to connect what they are learning in one subject area to a related content in another subject area. For instance, topics learned in Math or Social Studies may be used by the pupils with related concepts and skills in Reading and Language. The quality of learning outcomes improves as pupils are able to integrate information across disciplines instead of acquiring them in isolation.
An integrated approach has roots in early childhood education, where a hallmark for quality is the seamless interconnection of development domains and content areas. John Dewey claimed that learning could be more meaningful if content areas are blended for curriculum and instruction.
- The use of unifying themes and real-life activities could lead to more relevant learning (Dewey, 1938; New, 1992).
- In Kindergarten of the new K to 12 Curriculum, the use of unifying themes to achieve an integrated approach is emphasized.
- Through meaningful activities, the themes connect the different learning domains such as Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health, Language and Literacy, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Values Education.
With the desired outcomes that are developmentally appropriate for preschoolers in mind, Diwa’s JUMPSTART Integrated Workbook Series helps educators accomplish challenging but achievable goals of child development and learning. JUMPSTART is a three-level integrated preschool workbook series anchored on the competencies of the K to 12 Curriculum set by the Department of Education.
Since it uses multi-disciplinary connections that allow each workbook to integrate its lessons with other subjects, pupils become well-rounded learners. The coverage of Nursery and Kinder 1 is based on the existing scope and sequence for ages 3 and 4 and other research-based sets of competencies for young pupils.
The scope of Kinder 2 is based on the mandated Kindergarten competencies. All workbooks contain activities based on real-life situations that develop 21st century skills such as higher-order thinking, sound reasoning, creativity, and effective use of real-world tools. 
An integrated workbook allows educators to use a variety of teaching strategies to achieve an integrated learning process, where the teaching and learning must evolve from a theme. Such an approach also creates opportunities for communication, collaboration, and critical thinking among pupils working in tasks and performances, which then leads to more learning for both pupils and the teacher (Berk & Winsler, 1995; Bordrova & Leong, 1996).
- Here are some practices you may use when implementing the integrated approach: 1.
- Incorporate the thematic and integrated curriculum in the daily schedule and daily or weekly lesson plan.
- Start by adapting lesson plans for diversity by modifying the projects, lessons, and activities for children.
- Think of new interdisciplinary ways to present old topics.
In Diwa’s JUMPSTART, a short story for language comprehension could also have mathematical elements. Present math problems in the form of limericks or poems, or combine math and art by using numbers while finger painting. The possibilities are limitless once the integrated curriculum is embedded into the classroom routine.2.
- Foster an atmosphere that welcomes and encourages creativity in the classroom.
- Create activities that require students to discover, manipulate, combine, and transform objects.
- Teach shapes through crafts making, or animals through clay molding.
- Or how about a multi-discipline project such as a ? To take it a step further, give the children freedom to choose their own activities.
It will make them more interested in the subject and help them develop individual goals.3. Use age-appropriate materials and techniques in teaching. Facilitate learning through play and child-centered activities. Interrelate the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. 
The integrated approach is a vehicle that allows teachers to design lessons and activities that meet preschool children’s developmental needs. It makes it possible for the curriculum to be child-centered, be responsive to cultural differences, and accommodate multiplicity, individuality, varying interests, and differing creative expressions.
- An integrated approach is important to ensure that pupils learn more and are fully prepared for the next steps in the education ladder.
- References Bago, A. (2008).
- Curriculum development, the philippine experience.
- C & E Publishing, Inc.
- Quezon Ave., Philippines, Wynn, M. (2009).
- Strategies for teaching in the content areas.
Pearson Education Inc. New Jersey, USA. Wortham, S. (2009). Early childhood curriculum developmental bases for learning and teaching. Pearson Education Inc. New Jersey, USA. : The integrated approach: Giving kids a meaningful learning experience
View complete answer
