New Perspectives in Science Education

The purposes of the study were to investigate the capabilities held by the pre-service teachers in interdisciplinary instructional design for elementary science teaching and learning. In order to inspire student active thinking and construct their schema by organizing the concrete concepts instead of the discrete concepts, interdisciplinary instructional design was emphasized in the new Taiwanese National Curriculum Guideline. Seventy-three pre-service teachers taking the elementary science methods course at the National Wise University participated in the study. The participants completed a sequence of inquiry-based science activities across the different disciplines, including: science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics, social studies, and literature. They tried to develop the instructional design for elementary science by integrating science, art, literature, and so on. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied in this study. This instrument was consulted and validated by six science researchers. At the end of the course, the participants did their efforts to exhibit their pedagogical content knowledge in their lesson plans, mind-maps, micro-teaching and filled out the questionnaires. The questionnaires were created by the researcher to measure their interests and self-efficacy concerning about interdisciplinary teaching and learning held by the pre-service teachers. Then, pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy of interdisciplinary instructional design were examined and analyzed with statistical methods. Data were collected from the lesson plans, micro-teaching, mind maps, and feedback from the pre-service teachers. The results indicated that the performance and self-efficacy of over seventy-five percent pre-service teachers exhibited high interests about interdisciplinary learning and teaching. They enjoyed doing inquiry-based activities through integrating botany, art, and literature. They also designed the hands-on activities integrating science, engineering, and different disciplines. They presented their science work in an artistic way, describe it with elegant words, and explain science phenomenon in depth. Most pre-service teachers presented their creative thinking and well-organized science concepts across the disciplines and made science learning more fun. In order to enhance the pre-service teachers’ science teaching and instructional design skills, it is worth to put more emphasis on multidisciplinary learning for elementary science teacher preparation.

Keywords: Interdisciplinary instructional design, pre-service teachers, self-efficacy, inquiry-based, creative thinking.

References:
[1] Baraquia, Lee. (2019). Interdisciplinary Contextualization and Inquiry-Based Learning: How Engaging Can It Be?.
[2] Drake, Susan & Reid, Joanne. (2018). Integrated Curriculum as an Effective Way to Teach 21st Century Capabilities. Asia Pacific Jorunal of Educational Research. 1. 31-50.
[3] Fogarty, R. (1991). The mindful school: How to integrate the curricula. Palatine, IL: Skylight.
[4] Fogarty, R. (1993). Bringing integrated curriculum into the elementary classroom. Palatine, IL: Skylight.
[5] Manning, M., Manning, G., & Long, R. (1994). Theme immersion: Inquiry-based curriculum in elementary and middle schools. Portsmouth, NH: Heinneman.
[6] Rothlein, L., Fredericks, A., & Meinbach, A. (1996). More thematic units for creating the integrated curriculum. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc.