Interdisciplinary Curriculum Design in Inclusive Secondary Education: A Case Study of Black Mountain College EDU4IDS
- Subject Code :
EDU4IDS
Part 1
Section 1: Overview and definitions:
a) I have chosen the secondary learning site. Black mountain college in Canberra serves students with disabilities in years 7-12 offering personalised learning tailored to individual goals. Recognised as a college of excellence, Black Mountain school emphasises hands on and authentic experiences. Students are grouped by developmental stage, with programs in horticulture, hospitality, and sustainability to prepare them for life beyond school. Community Bases instruction is a key feature, teaching functional skills in real world contexts.
b) Disciplinary Learning: Focuses on deep expertise within a single academic field, emphasising its specific methods and knowledge.
Figure 1: Disciplinary learning
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Interdisciplinary learning: Integrates methods and perspectives from multiple disciplines to address a shared problem, fostering a broader understanding.
Figure 2: Interdisciplinary learning
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Transdisciplinary learning: Goes beyond academic boundaries, combing disciplinary knowledge with non-academic insights to solve real world problems through collaborative efforts (Sunarti et al., 2020).
Figure 3: Transdisciplinary learning
c) The language and literacy strand refers to the system of communication, including its structures used in various disciplines. Literacy extends beyond basic reading and writing and encompassing critical thinking, analytical skills, and the ability to engage with and contribute to scholarly conversations. (Denham, 2015)
The HPE strand has a primary focus on self-management skills within heal and physical education, emphasising the cognitive and behavioural aspects of physical activity. It highlights the importance of integrating these skills into the HPE curriculum to enhance students long term engagement in physical activity (Trent Dickson Brown, 2023).
The Humanities strand has an ecological and cultural context. It integrates ecological and a cultural context. According to (Rigby, 2019) emerging in the 1980s, it integrates ecological humanities, involving history, philosophy, and environmental science. The discipline interconnecting human culture and the environment, considering Australias colonial history, unique biodiversity and extreme climate (Rigby, 2019).
The Creative arts discipline involves using diverse artistic methods, such as visual art, music, and poetry, to explore and express complex ides. It emphasises a non linier, integrative approach where different sources can generate new knowledge and artistic works. (Kay, 2015)
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It represents an integrated approach to education that combines these four disciplines into a cohesive learning model. This approach emphasises the interdisciplinary learning between these fields while also enhancing students problem solving skills, creativity and critical thinking by engaging them in real world, interdisciplinary projects and challenges. (Koul, Fraser, & Nastiti, 2018)
Section 2: Observations
I chose AC illustration of Practice: Black Mountain College school leadership and AC illustration of Practice: Black Mountain college community engagement. The school leadership video showcases an interdisciplinary approach to education, focusing on practical skills development in students with disabilities. The school integrates discipline such as horticulture, hospitality (making coffees) , sustainability, and the arts to prepare students for post school life, emphasising employability skills and personal development. Practices observed are interdisciplinary, blending multiple fields to support students social, emotional, and academic growth, ensuring they acquire essential skills for independence and employment. The schools approach connects academic learning with the real-world applications highlighting the importance of understanding the why behind their education. The other video I watched was the Parent and student engagement video. At Black Mountain Schools six-degree Caf students like Michael engage in a range of activities centred around hospitality and personal development. The learning activities involve earing a Certificate III in Hospitality, which covers the operation and management of a caf, including making coffee, handling money, and using digital tools like iPads for taking orders. Alongside these skills. Students also develop essential life skills, such as communication, teamwork, and mathematical abilities. The practices observed are interdisciplinary, integrating hospitality training with development of social, mathematical, and technological skills. The skills. The caf environment serves as a platform where students can apply and refine these skills in real world settings, blending academic learning with practical experience. This approach supports both the vocational and personal growth of students, emphasising their abilities and potential beyond their disabilities.
Section 3: Analysis
Taking Black Mountain College into consideration, the evidence of interdisciplinarity can be interpreted as rather profound, especially in the sphere of horticulture, hospitality, and sustainability (Berasategi et al., 2020). These programs harmoniously incorporate subjects like vocational training, life skills, Information Technology, and environmental conservation so that a student is facilitated with an education that encompasses all essential and relevant aspects of learning. The colleges caf project is an excellent illustration, student working at the caf apply hospitality, mathematical, communication as well as digital skills at the same time. Apart from increasing the knowledge of different fields in interdisciplinary studies, it also shows students how disciplines can be connected and how problems of different areas can be solved.
According to authors Warr & West (2020), Interdisciplinary learning is thoroughly encouraged by the teaching strategies characteristic for the college, such as application of practical assignments and focus on community-based curricula. Such practices connect what is studied in the classroom with what is reality, shows how knowledge is useful in real life. Thus, this approach increases students activity and interest in the learning process since it allows applying the material in practice right after the explanation in class, which improves problem-solving skills and critical thinking among students. However, as seen with Black Mountain College, interdisciplinary studies are advantageous, but there exist some loose ends. Here, however, with interdisciplinary learning taking place, there is potential for such learning to be conducted superficially and one ends up not having a clear perception of the individual disciplines involved in the integration (Van den Beemt et al., 2020). Students can thus have a general view of a subject without getting the specific detail relevant to a certain section of the field. Also, as all the above points are indicating, the importance of vocational skills may overpower other important components such as the higher order thinking as obtained from academic learning. However, the college curriculums interdisciplinarity has several merits; it pulls students into the learning process better, and many of the competencies taught are very applicable in todays workforce marketplace. Additionally, one notices trends of integration, meaning that the content of the learning process is based on students reflections and experiences from their own life and the world around them, making education even more practice-oriented. The flexibility to adopt an interdisciplinary approach means increased interest and focus from the students A large number of assignments are oriented towards the development of professional skills that are suitable for a modern workplace.
Section 4: Recommendations
For Black Mountain College, Project-based Learning (PBL) framework is most suitable because of the multidisciplinary approach and practical orientations of the college. According to the article by Almulla (2020), PBL engages students in complex projects that are more comprehensive, and encompassing different areas of learning, were students practice what they have learnt. Documenting that due to the colleges orientation on skills developed through horticulture, hospitality and sustainability PBL would strengthen the links between concepts and enable students to tackle integrated issues that mimic real-life issues.
Positive Outcomes:
PBL can be implemented at Black Mountain College to the below benefits; One of the main objectives would be the improved students interest, as PBL offers chances for active participation during which students are to assume ownership of their projects and actually notice the outcomes (Vasiliene-Vasiliauskiene et al., 2020). This would probably enhance students engagement in their learning since they can appreciate the application of concepts in solving some issues. Besides, PBL would prepare graduates for teamwork, problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, communication skills and other unexpected skills that could be necessary as a graduate in the workplace or in other professional fields. On matters of interdisciplinary projects, students would be in a position to understand how several fields interconnect in addressing issues, an aspect that is crucial in todays world.
Challenges:
However, there is a challenge that accompany the implementation of PBL. Another issue is the lack of close coordination of the faculties from different fields to come up with and oversee projects that have purpose and relevance to education and learning. This originates from immense coordination, potential need for more resource and time to fashion out projects in manner that will strike a balance between integration and coverage of disciplines. The other concern is how to make students intertwine between technical aspects of the projects they will be handling, without neglecting the theoretical aspect of each discipline. To some extent, certain excessive emphasis might be made on the use of the knowledge in practice, in which case the learners fail to grasp the content of the academic subjects (Abbonizio & Ho, 2020). To tackle such issues, some of the solutions that could be recommended are the following: the enhancement of teachers professional development in terms of implementing PBL into the curriculum and in supporting their attempt in achieving a balance between the practical and the theoretical application of learning. Some criteria, policies, and constant coaching to facilitate the effective implementation of PBL would be required to do so without deepening the students interdisciplinary experience even further.
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