Browsing by Author "Vuorikkinen, Elisa"

Goal. Integrated approach in teaching has been seen as a way to respond to the needs of the world, the society and the pupil. With the new curriculum principles the subject is still a current topic, although the idea itself is old. Several concepts and methods has been created over the years to defragment teaching. The aim of this study is to survey and portray the historical and the cultural aspects of integrated teaching. It aims to answer how integrated approach in teaching is understood and what concepts are used when talking about it. Methods. Descriptive literature review with a narrative touch was utilized as the method of this research. Narrative overview is methodologically the lightest literature review orientation and it suits especially to describe the history and the development of the subject. The method allows to piece together information for the construction of a wider descriptive synthesis. At first, I narrowed the research material down by using headwords like “integration” and “curriculum integration”. Then I searched more information about pedagogical reform movements, integral teaching, alternative pedagogical ideas and multidisciplinary learning projects. Availability of literature contributed partly that the narrowing down of the literature wasn´t systematic. However, I think that the literature is sufficient in quantity and quality for historical overview. Results and conclusion. The results of the study show that the ideas of integration in teaching have been around for a long time. The concept of integration is impossible to define unambiguously, for it has lived and altered over time and responded to the needs and ideas of the era. Defining the concept is therefore important at all times when it´s used. The goal of defragmented and integrated teaching is to cross or dissolve subject boundaries that the child could built more wholistic picture of the world via subject matter that is meaningful, socially topical and relates to the child`s world of experience. At the same time it fades the boundaries of formal and informal teaching.