Apart from strong disciplinary fundamentals, the ability to “connect-the-dots” by drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives helps students in navigating a hyper-VUCA world more effectively and confidently (Kozak, S & Elliot, S., 2015). To strengthen the connections between disciplines in the General Science Syllabus, four Integrative Activities (IAs) were designed as culminating tasks for science students to integrate knowledge for exploring and solving real-world problems. An exploratory case-study was conducted to study: (i) the design features of the IA for students to make inter-disciplinary connections; and (ii) the reasons for teachers’ customisation of the IAs. The study involved 9 secondary schools in Singapore, representing student across the learning readiness spectrum. Findings from lesson observations, student artefacts and post-course teacher and student perception surveys were analysed using the lens of three approaches to interdisciplinary curricula (Nikitina, 2006), two dimensions of learning environments (Aldridge, Laugksch, Seopa & Fraser, 2006) and task-specific rubrics. Additionally, significant differences in expected and actual experiences were surfaced using standard deviation and effect size. Findings suggest how integrative approaches may be used for designing and enacting tasks with STEM features within the formal Science learning. Furthermore, IAs exemplify the possibility of retaining subject disciplinarity in the formal Science curriculum while integrating with other disciplines. The findings also highlighted the importance of teacher competencies in facilitating epistemic knowledge in these IAs. The potential use of manipulative kits to support such open-ended tasks through blended-learning was observed.

Authors:
Charlene Seah, Ministry of Education Singapore, Singapore

About the Presenter(s)
Charlene Seah Xinyi is a Senior Curriculum Specialist with the Ministry of Education Singapore. She has a special interest in Curriculum-making and translation, Disciplinarity and Interdisciplinarity, as well as Scientific Literacy.she enjoys thinkin

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