Originally published as a special issue of the Middle School Journal, this book presents integrative curriculum as a foundational element of the middle school. By addressing the current gap in literature on curriculum integration in the middle grades, this text explores how learning can be organized around authentic concepts or questions which cut across disciplines and speak to young adolescents. Providing a current, nuanced, and comprehensive review of what it means to embrace and implement an interdisciplinary and integrative curriculum, the volume considers how educators can create and deliver a high-quality integrative curriculum which is enjoyable, challenging, and inclusive. Examples of implementation in teacher preparation programs and middle grade classrooms showcase integrative approaches and illustrate how curricula have been key in tackling social inequities, increasing engagement with STEM, and supporting collaboration. This text will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, academics and libraries in the field of Middle School Education, Curriculum Studies, Teacher Education, Theories of Learning, and STEM Education.

Demystifies curriculum integration describing a variety of curriculum integration options ranging from concurrent teaching of related subjects to fusion of curriculum focus to residential study focusing on daily living, from two-week units to year-long courses.

If you've ever thought that standards-based teaching and required content prevent you from integrating subject areas, then here's a book that will change the way you think and alert you to exciting new possibilities in your approach to teaching. Learn how to identify the connections in your standards that provide the basis for interdisciplinary units. Explore all types of integrated curriculum and how they bridge content standards to authentic, relevant learning experiences. And understand how to create interdisciplinary units that provide data-based evidence of student learning. A planning template and detailed examples of successful integrated curriculums are included to help you implement integrated curriculum in practice. Discover how you can make learning more exciting for students--and rewarding for you.

In this book, a group of educators examine the reputed merits of the interdisciplinary curriculum movement that has gained wisespread popularity in recent years. They explore the complex texture of what actually happens in the classroom when theory meets reality. Some topics addressed are: how teachers with diverse backgrounds come together to plan curricula; what happens to school culture when an interdisciplinary effort is spearheaded by administrators; and what transpires when new curricula are put into practice either at the local school level or across major urban districts.

The second edition of Planet Health: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Teaching Middle School Nutrition and Physical Activity offers an innovative approach to teaching health education. You can use this proven, evidence-based curriculum to teach students about nutrition and physical activity while helping them build skills and competencies in language arts, math, science, social studies, and physical education. The curriculum is designed for use by teachers in core academic areas as well as in physical education and health. This new edition includes revised nutrition and physical activity information, ensuring that you're equipped with the most up-to-date science. The book also includes an all-new CD-ROM with plenty of reproducible worksheets, parent information and newsletters, school health resources, and other teacher resource materials. Like the popular first edition, Planet Health provides -35 complete, ready-to-use lesson plans and 31 microunits that promote healthy nutrition and activity; -materials and instructions to implement Power Down, a two-week campaign to reduce television and other media viewing time, which you can launch in the classroom or school-wide; and -FitCheck, a self-assessment tool to help students track and improve their activity levels. In addition, the book includes access to a Web site, which features a teacher training PowerPoint presentation, a Planet Heath FAQ, and more. Planet Health, Second Edition, encourages students to think holistically about how health behaviors are interrelated, and it offers a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. With this approach, you can build on your students' knowledge and experiences to create an active, inquiry-based, student-centered learning environment--one in which students learn best as they construct meaning for themselves. Developed by educators and scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health, Planet Health, Second Edition, is aligned with the Massachusetts Department of Education Curriculum Frameworks (learning standards) for health, language arts, math, science and technology, and history and social science, and it meets the standards in many other states. Every Planet Health lesson incorporates a range of language arts learning standards and engages students through discussion ideas for small or large groups in which they cooperatively learn and solve health-related issues. Active discussions are used to encourage higher-level thinking and cognition, and peer-group work fosters social development. This new edition of Planet Health is the perfect antidote to kids' inactivity, poor food choices, and high levels of screen-viewing time. Acquiring good habits regarding nutrition and physical activity in adolescence often carries over into adulthood. Help your students develop good habits now with Planet Health, Second Edition, and they'll have a better chance of growing into healthy adults.

For undergraduate/graduate-level courses in Interdisciplinary Methods in Elementary and/or Middle School or Thematic Instruction, or a supplement to a Math, Science, or Social Studies Methods course. Building on current teaching philosophies and strategies, this text covers the what and how of developing techniques for exploring interdisciplinary connections across the curriculum using thematic units. User friendly in approach, it provides a principles-based perspective, step-by-step "how-to" guidelines from planning, to implementation, to evaluation and 10 detailed example application units with classroom-tested materials that can be used immediately with students.