Interdisciplinary Curriculum

In this outstanding new collection, a group of leading educators examines the reputed merits of the interdisciplinary curriculum movement that has gained widespread popularity in recent years. Going beyond the platitudes, they explore the complex texture of what actually happens in the classroom when theory meets reality. Well respected for their research and credibility, the contributors provide rich accounts of how curriculum reform plays out in practice. The questions they address are consequential, the documentation they present about the interdisciplinary movement across different systems, subjects, and settings, is thorough. Some of the 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
• What transpires when new curricula are put into practice either at the local school level or across major urban districts

Sam Wineburg is a Professor of Educational Psychology in the College of Education and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of History at the University of Washington.

Pam Grossman is a Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education, Stanford University.

“Interdisciplinary curricula is a worthy concept that has come around once more to challenge the supremacy of separate subjects as the way to organize curricula.Whether or not they gain parity or even triumph in some schools for a period of time is of less import than whether they help stimulate and sustain an ethos of continuous renewal—a condition which by its very essence nourishes having and implementing wonderful ideas.”
—John Goodlad, from the Foreword