Making Science Connections Across Standards and Disciplines

Ohio’s science academic content standards provide six domains of clear and rigorous expectations for all students. Through the Earth and space sciences, life sciences, physical sciences, science and technology, scientific inquiry, and scientific ways of knowing standards, the expectations for student achievement in science are made explicit. The standards also are intended to be considered appropriate guidelines for teachers of science, as well as for teachers in other content areas where science knowledge and skills are important aspects of the curriculum. The indicators suggest specific content for lessons that will cut across the standards and disciplines to build mastery towards the benchmarks.

The science academic content standards can be interwoven into several disciplines such as mathematics, social studies and English language arts. The purpose of integrating the science curriculum is to help children make realistic connections between what they learn in each content area and the real world. The task of teaching students to inquire, analyze, compare, predict and formulate is the role of teachers at all grades and across all content areas. This is not unique to science education. Teachers in all subject areas lead students to knowledge acquisition through inquiry, the process of asking questions and seeking answers through research. Once students have gained knowledge through research, it is essential that they learn how to effectively communicate this acquired information.

The concept of connections encompasses both the idea of making connections between skills and concepts within science, as well as making connections between science concepts, other disciplines and the outside world. Student experiences designed to focus on these relationships will help them build interconnected knowledge. An interdisciplinary curriculum cuts across subject-matter lines to focus upon comprehensive world issues that bring together the various segments of the curriculum into meaningful association. This provides coherence and allows student experiences to add up to more than just a miscellaneous collection of topics or activities. (American Association of Advancement of Science).

There is a body of research related to how children learn that supports an interdisciplinary curriculum. “The brain may resist learning fragmented facts that are presented in isolation. Learning is believed to occur faster and more thoroughly when it is presented in meaningful contexts with an experiential component. Put to use in the classroom, the brain research points toward interdisciplinary learning, thematic teaching, experiential education, and teaching that is responsive to student learning styles.” (Lake, p. 6)

The integration of skills across the standards, and of instruction across the disciplines can result through planning. It is important for science teachers to plan instruction with teachers of other content areas to ensure the effective and efficient integration of the content of the standards into a coherent plan. By doing so, they can best support student achievement and prepare Ohio’s learners to become productive citizens in an educated society. Comprehensive, integrated science education promotes critical thinking and supports integration of content and skills from all areas of the curriculum in order for students to extend and apply their knowledge to life outside the classroom.

Traditionally, science has been divided into content areas and processes, but it is clear that each supports and contributes to the other.

Sample Connections Across Disciplines

Science and Social Studies

· Earth and space science and geography

· Populations, resources and environments

· Science and technology contributions by many people and cultures of different times in history

· Contributions of science and technology to economic growth and productivity among societies

· History of many societies, scientists and engineers of high achievement

Science and Mathematics:

· Measurement, data analysis and probability

· Mathematical processes used in science

· Patterns, functions and algebra

Science and English Language Arts:

· Knowledge acquisition through inquiry

· Research methods and doing science research

· Scientific inquiry and scientific ways of knowing

· Communication of effective research results

American Association for The Advancement of Science: Project 2061, Benchmarks for Science Literacy. NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 1993, p. 320.

Lake, Kathy. Integrated Curriculum. Portland, Oregon: Northwest Regional Education Laboratory, 1994, p. 6.

National Research Council, National Science Education Standards. National Academy Press, 1996, p. 10.

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