Integrated science education

1. Integration, when applied to science courses, means that the course is devised and presented in such a way that the student gains the concept of the fundamental unity of science; the commonality of approach to problems of a scientific nature; and is helped to gain an understanding of the role and function of science in his everyday life, and the world in which he lives. Such a course eliminates the repetition of subject matter from the various sciences and does not recognize the traditional subject boundaries when presenting topics or themes.

2. A distinction is made between integrated science curricula (namely curricula emphasizing the interdisciplinary or unified dimension of science) and integrated systems of science teaching (namely systems of teaching which blend with one another when handling science topics).

3. There is considerable uncertainty concerning the meaning of such terms as: discipline, interdisciplinary and integrated. Integration requires re-combination of previously segregated parts to give unity or to make a whole. One procedure advocated in practice is to mix the parts and hope that the significance of each part will be appreciated by the students. Another procedure, deemed more satisfactory by its proponents, is to show the inter-relationships and interactions explicitly by using team teaching methods, such that each is able to cross-refer to other relevant fields where appropriate. Another approach is to select a topic that is an entity in itself (e.g. air pollution, human ecology) and teach any science relevant to that topic. Integration is applied here in a very different sense from its usage with reference to the synthesis of a course from a universe of segregated parts. Where synthesis is attempted, ways are sought to combine the parts into coherent units. In the topic method, the starting point is the coherent unit, which is then examined for its constituent subject areas, the relevant parts of which are taught as part of the unit.