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About

Integrated learning in Stage 4: innovative new resources for secondary teachers

The Integrated Learning initiative being developed by Curriculum K-12 Directorate is part of the 2006-2009 Middle Years Strategy. New materials are now available that will assist schools to design integrated, cross-curriculum units of work for Stage 4 students. These materials include models for Stage 4 Connected Outcomes Groups (COGs) which build on recent development of cross-curriculum integration in primary schools. The Stage 4 Connected Outcomes Groups (COGs) model will:

• ensure curriculum connections made between subjects are connected to syllabus outcomes and content, and maintain subject integrity
• provide students with the opportunity to engage with significant cross-curriculum concepts identified by the school community.

 Support material for schools includes:

• a modelled process in work-book format for school teams to use in designing a cross-curriculum unit of work
• four sample units of work designed in collaboration with NSW government schools
• school stories
• sample curriculum mapping to assist schools in identifying curriculum connections.

Four schools have piloted the modelled process to design cross-curriculum units of work in 2009. The resulting four units of work are designed to be a guide for schools who are writing their own.

Cultural identity: sharing our stories This unit incorporates learning in English, PDHPE, and Music (with suggested links to Languages, History, and Aboriginal Studies). Students investigate different aspects of Aboriginal culture and reflect on their own experience to gain an appreciation of cultural identity, the culture of others, the rights and dignity of all people, and the rejection of discrimination.

 

Climate change This unit incorporates learning in Science, Technology (mandatory), and Geography, with scope to include Mathematics if desired. It has been written for Year 8 students in those subjects. A cross-curriculum approach will address student misconceptions about the underlying causes of global warming, and will send a powerful message to students that they have the capacity to make informed choices which could have a positive impact on the future.

Healthy lifestyles This unit would ideally be taught at the end of Year 7 or beginning of Year 8. It links subject outcomes from English, Technology (Mandatory), Geography, PDHPE, and Mathematics. The unit is about empowering students to make informed choices about their health, by learning about the global trend of increasing levels of obesity in developed and developing countries. Students are asked to propose solutions to this trend on a local level, in their own community.

  

Relationships with our world This unit makes connections between English, PDHPE, and the Creative Arts, and suggests further links with Geography, Technology (mandatory) and whole school welfare initiatives. Students develop deep knowledge of how they relate to the world around them and to each other; how relationships are formed and influenced, and how the connecting idea of relationships is represented and explicitly taught in different subjects. This unit can facilitate student understanding that significant connections can be found in their learning across subjects in secondary school.