Inclusion began in the United States and Europe as a special education initiative on behalf of students with disabilities as early as the 1980s. Now, more than two decades later, schools in these countries are changing as educators, parents, politicians and communities try to prepare for the new challenges and promises of the twenty‐first century. Advances in technology, the global economy and politics, changes in what “counts” as knowledge, and the skills and abilities demanded by the businesses and industries of the future all combine to render obsolete much of what schools have been up until now. The new educational conversation centers on how to design schools and student learning for a future that many educators find nearly impossible to even imagine. How students with disabilities and special education continue to fit into this future is the ongoing challenge of inclusion. While much progress has been made, trends point to some troubling results especially for minority students, and students with so...

International trends in inclusive education: the continuing challenge to teach each one and everyone

Interdisciplinary learning is characterized by the integration of multidisciplinary knowledge across a central program theme or focus. With repeated exposure to interdisciplinary thought, learners develop more advanced epistemological beliefs, enhanced critical thinking ability and metacognitive skills, and an understanding of the relations among perspectives derived from different disciplines. Our adaptation of Biggs and Collis' (1982) Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome illustrates the stages of interdisciplinary knowledge integration and explains corresponding patterns of learners' intellectual functioning, from acquisition of single-subject information to transfer of interdisciplinary knowledge to other topics, issues, or problems.

Interdisciplinary Learning: Process and Outcomes

Integrated curricula has gained a great deal of acceptance among educators. Many educators provide testimonials about the effectiveness of units they teach, and many professional organizations stress integration across the curriculum. However, few empirical studies exist to support the notion that an integrated curriculum is any better than a well-designed traditional curriculum. Some educators question integration across the curriculum, because in the effort to integrate topics, science and mathematics content becomes superficial and trivial. This paper presents a review of the literature on integrated curricula. It concludes with a call to action for members of School Science and Mathematics Association.

A Literature Review of Science and Mathematics Integration

Integrative curriculum design promises much for middle level teachers who wish to develop classroom programmes that will encourage early adolescents to actively engage in their learning (Beane 1990, 1997). Beane’s model is highly responsive to the educational and developmental needs of young people. In contrast, multidisciplinary curriculum design (Jacobs 1989) may result in significant but largely unrecognised drawbacks when it is implemented in the middle grades. This paper critically examines the theory of the integrative and the multidisciplinary models of curriculum integration with respect to middle level curriculum reform in Australian schools. It draws its data from a doctoral study (Dowden 2007) that traced a century of development of curriculum integration in the USA: from Dewey’s Laboratory School a century ago through to contemporary middle schooling.

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Relevant Challenging, Integrative and Exploratory Curriculum Design: Perspectives From Theory and Practice for Middle Level Schooling in Australia

This paper has two objectives: 1) to define, describe, and discuss integrated programs and their advantages with regard to student and faculty outcomes, as well as student retention; and 2) to describe a design process used to successfully develop and deploy an integrated first year curriculum. This paper details the results of the design process and the content of the first year integrated program implemented by the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. The curriculum integrates the first year components of calculus, chemistry, engineering graphics, English, physics, and problem solving.

Smyth K

Papers

An integrated curriculum.