science

Integrative learning

Integrative learning is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Integrative learning rather than just read about it. In short: Integrative learning is a learning theory describing a movement toward integrated lessons helping students make connections across curricula. This higher education concept is distinct from the elementary and high school "integrated curriculum" movement.

Key takeaways

Integrative learning belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Integrative learning to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Integrative learning from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Integrative learning is a learning theory describing a movement toward integrated lessons helping students make connections across curricula. This higher education concept is distinct from the elementary and high school "integrated curriculum" movement.

Term and concept Integrative Learning comes in many varieties: connecting skills and knowledge from multiple sources and experiences; applying skills and practices in various settings; utilizing diverse and even contradictory points of view; and, understanding issues and positions contextually."

...making connections within a major, between fields, between curriculum, cocurriculum, or between academic knowledge and practice." Integrated studies involve bringing together traditionally separate subjects so that students can grasp a more authentic understanding. Veronica Boix Mansilla, cofounder of the Interdisciplinary Studies Project at Project Zero, explains "when [students] can bring together concepts, methods, or languages from two or more disciplines or established areas of expertise in order to explain a phenomenon, solve a problem, create a product, or raise a new question" they are demonstrating interdisciplinary understanding. For over a decade, Project Zero researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education have been studying interdisciplinary work across a range of settings. They have found interdisciplinary understanding to be crucial for modern-thinking students. Developing a cognitive and social model of interdisciplinary learning is still a challenge. Edutopia highlighted Central York High School as a "School That Works" because of its successful integrated studies approach. For example, an AP government teacher and art teacher collaborated to create a joint project that asked students to create a sculpture based on the principles presented by the AP government class. AP government teacher Dayna Laur states that, "Integrated studies projects [aim to] create a connectedness between disciplines that otherwise might seem unrelated to many students. Deliberately searching for ways in which you can mingle standards and content is imperative if you want to create truly authentic experiences because, in the world outside of the classroom, content is not stand-alone."

Integrated medical curriculum In many American medical schools, an integrated curriculum refers to a non-compartmentalized approach to basic science learning. As opposed to traditional medical curriculum, which separate subjects such as embryology, physiology, pathology and anatomy, integrated curricula alternate lectures on these subjects over the course of the first two years. (Jonas 1989) The course of study is instead organized around organ systems (such as "Cardiovascular" or "Gastrointestinal"). Another major component of the integrated medical curriculum is problem-based learning.

K–12 outcomes Interdisciplinary curricula has been shown by several studies to support students' engagement and learning. Specifically integrating science with reading comprehension and writing lessons has been shown to improve students' understanding in both science and English language arts.

References

Bibliography

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Integrative learning

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Integrative learning claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Integrative learning before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Integrative learning ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Integrative learning

In research: Integrative learning appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Integrative learning in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Integrative learning is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Educational programs, Educational psychology, Learning theory (education), so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Integrative learning outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Integrative learning in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Integrative learning means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Integrative learning out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Integrative learning in simple terms?

Why does Integrative learning matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Integrative learning?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Integrative learning.