The Study
Under the leadership of Gail Richmond, associate professor of teacher education and natural science at Michigan State University, this study explored the development and implementation of a team-taught integrated science curriculum in three tenth-grade classes. The two-or three person teams were made up of three biology, one chemistry and one physics teachers and two university professors. The curriculum moved away from traditional discipline-and-topic course organization and focused instead on two large case studies — cholera and cystic fibrosis. Multiple quantitative and qualitative measures were taken as the course progressed; these included: field notes; videotaped discussions; student interviews, questionnaires and journal entries; tests and lab reports; two sets of instructor interviews.

The Findings
The cases represented real-life problems that were relatively unfamiliar to students: the diseases had different transmittal patterns and affected different body systems; they promoted engagement and successful learning. The cases permitted students to investigate concepts and develop necessary laboratory and problem-solving skills while learning to work in groups. Students reported:

• They were learning more science than in other science classes and the learning was more fun.
• They finally understood why they were learning something and better understood its importance.

They enjoyed the opportunity to design their own experiments and preferred dealing with fewer concepts in a more in-depth manner. Instructors found that to help students understand concepts in any discipline, teachers have to incorporate aspects of other disciplines. All respondents felt that teaching science in an integrated fashion was more effective than having it presented as individual academic disciplines.

What It Means to You
If a growing number of your science students asking more complex questions, many of which are not limited to the traditional scope of a particular science course, science teachers may want to consider offering an integrated science class. To place science teaching and learning in a real-life context, you may want to use case studies to organize the course. Having a course team taught presents both challenges and opportunities:

• Designing instruction with others who have their own instructional objectives can be time-consuming.
• Attempting to let students’ interests and questions drive the direction of the course may lead to redesigning the course on an almost daily basis.
• Stimulating discussions resulting from developing, implementing and evaluating an integrated course can enable instructors to gain new insights concerning their own instructional and conceptual goals.

For More Information
To learn more about this study, consult Richmond, G. and Striley, J., “An Integrated Approach,” (1994), The Science Teacher, October, pp. 42- 45.

<back to 1998 ed-research reports