Planning Interdisciplinary Lessons

Suraasa Team

Suraasa Team helps teachers in their career needs - mentorship, upskilling, and jobs.

‍

Ms T, a grade 8 geography teacher, has created an interdisciplinary lesson plan on sustainable development.

Let’s look at the lesson plan and see how we can create such lesson plans to ensure high quality learner engagement.

Interdisciplinary Lesson Plan for Geography- Grade 8
‍

Date: dd/mm/yy	Topic: Sustainable Development	Duration: 45 mins
Learning Outcomes	Learners will be able to write a paper on “Sustainable Future”.
Learning Outcomes	Learners will be able to integrate their knowledge gained from other disciplines to describe the current situation and suggest ways to create a sustainable future.
Specific Learning Activity	Introduction: 05 minutes Introduce the topic of sustainable development and seek learner opinions on the prevalent environmental issues. Ask learners to brainstorm on the areas they should work on to create a perfect paper on “Sustainable Future”.
Specific Learning Activity	Explanation: 20 minutes Give the learners articles and research papers written by futurists. Divide them into 3 groups and ask each group to work on all of the following tasks: A detailed explanation of the meaning of sustainable future and what actions would lead to creating a sustainable future. The role of the present generation in creating a sustainable future. The contribution of other disciplines in understanding sustainable development leading to a sustainable future. Ask the learners to discuss the responsibilities they can take up in writing the paper. Inform them that each group’s paper will include a scenario that explains the topic clearly and crisply.
Assessment	Assessment of Assignment: 10 minutes Ask a representative from each group to read their paper. Give the learners the following criteria for assessment and ask each group to grade (maximum 3 points for each parameter) the other groups’ paper: The paper describes a positive scenario which demonstrates ownership on the part of citizens to create a sustainable future. The paper uses relevant concepts to explain the scenario and how it can help to create a sustainable future. The paper includes values that people need in order to ensure a sustainable future. The paper clearly states the actions that must be taken in the present that will lead to a sustainable future. The paper includes documented facts researched independently to write about the topic in depth. Ask them to write on a slip of paper the justification for giving the scores that they gave.
Reflection	Review of the Assignment: 10 minutes Ask the learners to reflect on the following questions: What was the common ground between all the three scenarios? Which of the scenarios do you prefer the most and why? How did the knowledge of various disciplines help you identify solutions in each of thegiven scenarios? Which of the actions are you willing to work on and which ones are you not willing to work on?

Study and analyse this lesson plan carefully.

See how Ms T compels her learners to think holistically. They are thinking about economy (because they are thinking about actions that will include recycling, reducing and reusing), psychology (because they are thinking about human behaviour), science (because they are thinking about reducing the carbon footprint), language (because they are writing a paper) and mathematics (because they will be estimating quantities that they’d need to reduce or increase in order to make the environment more sustainable). They are doing all this in addition to learning geography (because sustainable development was a part of the geography curriculum to begin with).

Let’s see how we can plan lessons using the interdisciplinary approach by following a few simple steps.

Steps to Interdisciplinary Planning

Identify the problem that needs to be discussed in interdisciplinary contexts.
Identify the disciplines relevant to solve the given problem.
Discuss the benefits of using the interdisciplinary approach to solve the problem at hand.
Integrate the insights gained from other disciplines to find solutions.
Reflect on how the knowledge gained from various disciplines helped solve the problem.
‍

Interdisciplinary lesson planning can ensure the development of critical thinking skills in your learners. Such instructions can also help students develop their cognitive abilities and mental abilities needed to become problem solvers and decision makers. Ms T already does it, now it’s your turn!

If you want to dive deeper into this area of teaching and learning, please feel free to check out our course on Lesson Planning.

No items found.