Curriculum integration involves the idea of uniting various forms of seemingly unrelated knowledge to aid, motivate and facilitate faster and further learning. Learning is effective as it does not solely rely on memorization.
Students are given an opportunity to explore and have real time experiences with various events, public figures as well as memorials and portray how their understanding of those events change or influences their perceptions of knowledge.
Because students perceive each of these events and memorabilia differently, each of them will come out with a different meaning and lesson that is motivated by real life experiences rather than memorization of knowledge.
As part of the curriculum integration Honoring Heroes and History is a unit the has been developed with the intention of incorporating art and social studies effectively to aid student learning, not only of art but also on how knowledge is interconnected (Arts21, 2010). As such, Honoring Heroes and History is a unit that allows students to gain a deeper understanding of knowledge through experiences with real artistic forms.
Honoring Heroes and History allows the student the privilege of researching on a local memorial and or and pick any of the memorabilia or personality that has an influence on them. This research is carried as a study by the whole class. Alternatively, students can each carries out an individual research each picking a figure that has a personal effect on them (Arts21, 2010).
As such the Honoring Heroes and History unit identifies the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C, popularly referred to as The Wall has been chosen a valuable learning resource. The Wall is an artistic exhibition of all the war heroes who died during the Vietnam War.
It is V-shaped wall where names of fallen soldiers are inscribed in marble. It is also one of the most visited monuments, by students, scholars, families of the dead soldiers as well as the general public due to its historic as well as educational value (DGSH, 2000).
The Wall has various forms of art such as carvings, images and names of fallen soldiers of the Vietnam War. The Wall provides a very rich environment that facilitates students to learn as its V shaped form also resembles an open book; it artistically symbolizes a source of knowledge.
As Wolf & Brandt (1998) argue curriculum integration is a way of enhancing the understanding of the interconnectedness of knowledge that exists in different forms.
Students who visit The Wall as part will be exposed to various forms of knowledge inform of emotional connectedness (the wall is six feet tall and as such portrays a grave, as such an emotional connection with the dead soldiers) a well as physical appreciation of the piece of art.
Maya Lin uses art in this create an emotional as well as physical connection with the dead heroes. This triggers student cognitive capacities and as such they develop intellectual curiosity (Austin, Hirstein and Walen, 1997). These curiosities lead the students to seek further knowledge about the Vietnam War, the causes of the war, the consequences of the war and others.
Through these questions, the student is exposed to various types of knowledge disciplines such as Philosophy (the philosophy of war), international relations (course and causes of the war), family and life (consequences of the war). More fundamentally, the student will be able to appreciate war not only as involving armies and guns but also cost of human life.
This is reflected in the fact that Lin uses art to portray grief and the pain of loosing loved ones. Furthermore, students may also memorize the names of famous heroic solders and the awards given to each of them. This develops the student memory recall abilities, an ability useful in other disciplines.
Therefore, The Wall acts as a useful resource for curriculum integration as it helps the student to see the interconnectedness of various forms of knowledge disciplines from philosophy, history to language and memory recall.
The exposure to the various forms of knowledge found in this monumental learning resource is also useful to learning as students have a first hand experience with knowledge. As such they start seeing knowledge not as an abstract but as a concrete form.
This makes knowledge more meaningful to students and subsequently helps the students to improve learning. Knowledge learned through the visits will be useful in classroom learning, because concretization of knowledge helps in a better understanding of theoretical ideas (Wolf & Brandt 1998).
Other than being knowledge centered, The Wall is also useful for student centered approach to teaching and learning. As part of the learning resource, a visit to The Wall ensures that each student has a first hand experience with artistic representation of truth, which is symbolic of inherent knowledge. As such each of the students interprets these various forms of knowledge differently.
Each of the knowledge form assumes a different meaning and perspective depending on each individual’s interpretation. Each of the students thus constructs their own knowledge according to the way they interpreted the meaning of each of these knowledge forms (Jenson, 1998).
Those students who internalize the fact that there are about 50,000 names of soldiers will derive lessons on the cost of war on human lives. Yet those who memorize the name develop their language, memory and recall skills while those who ask questions about the war develop knowledge on history. As such The Wall helps each of the students to uncover new knowledge in their own special way.
As a learning curriculum integration resource for Honoring Heroes and History unit, The Wall is a not only useful in development of learning but also teaching techniques. Teachers are actively involved in the planning and implementation of this program. Teachers will develop learning and teaching material for the visit and also guide students on how to maximize learning from this exposure.
Teachers will also develop assessment methods based on these new types of learning. As such the teacher will not only be developing their teaching methods but also their assessment criterion. This will led to a general professional development of the teacher involved, which in effect will invariably affect learning outcomes in the school.
It also means that the administration can use this experience not only as a mean of improving the general learning outcomes but also as one of the staff development initiatives. This is not only is the experience useful to the teaching learning process but also to the student, teachers and the school (Clark, 2005).
Curriculum integration is the unification of various forms of knowledge with improved learning as the primary purpose.
Curriculum integration involves out of class learning experiences through such learning resources as the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. As a curriculum integration resource the memorial exposes student to various forms of knowledge through the artistic representation of Vietnam War heroes.
Through this art students will be led experience knowledge in concrete sense and will therefore be able to uncover new knowledge from a personal interpretation of the art. As such not only does the memorial lead to meaningful knowledge but also aids and improves learning.
Reference List
Art21. (2010). Honoring heroes and history. Web.
Austin, J. D., Hirstein, J., & Walen, S. (1997). Integrated mathematics interfaced with science. School Science and Mathematics, 97(1).
Clark, E. (2005). Implementing an integrated curriculum: A postscript. Web.
DGSH. (2000). The Wall. Web.
Jensen, E. (1998). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Wolf, P., & Brandt, R. (1998). What do we know from brain research? Educational Leadership, 56(3).