The Study
Curriculum integration is sometimes needed to teach about topics that cut across school subjects. Even when it is not strictly necessary, such integration can enrich the teaching of a given subject. However, curriculum integration is not an end in itself but a means for accomplishing basic educational goals. Professor Janet Alleman and Distinguished University Professor Jere Brophy, both in Teacher Education at Michigan State University, have studied the use of integration activities in recent elementary social studies series and found many of them lacking in merit. Their work has led to the development of guidelines that educators may use to weigh the costs and benefits of cross-subject integration activities in elementary classrooms.

The Findings
An activity is appropriate because it promotes progress toward significant educational goals, not merely because it cuts across subject-matter lines. Many integration activities that were recommended in the series were found to be counterproductive. Many of the suggested activities appeared to be misplaced and would have been better incorporated elsewhere in the elementary curriculum. Some of the activities could best be described as "pointless busy work," requiring time-consuming artistic or construction work. So-called integration activities were found to sometimes distort content; at other times they required students to do things that were strange, difficult, ambiguous or beyond the students' knowledge and/or skill levels. Although some of the activities reviewed allowed for opportunities to use social studies knowledge, others simply lacked educational value. An example of an activity considered to be lacking in educational value would be carving pumpkins to look like U.S. presidents. Various role-play, simulation, collage and scrapbook activities also seemed to lack the significant educational value.

What It Means to You
Integration is potentially a useful teaching tool; it is feasible and desirable in some situations but not in all. An activity is appropriate because it promotes progress toward significant educational goals, not merely because it cuts across subject-matter lines. Effective teachers can tell whether time spent in integrated activities versus subject area ones is appropriate, given each subject's major goals. Before having students engage in activities designed to promote curriculum integration, teachers are advised to apply the following criteria: (1) activities should be educationally significant, desirable even if they did not involve integration; (2) activities should foster, rather than disrupt or nullify the accomplishment of major goals in each subject area.

More Information
You can get more information about curriculum integration by consulting, Alleman, J. and Brophy, J. (1991). "A Caveat: Curriculum Integration Isn't Always a Good Idea," Educational Leadership, 49(2), 66.

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