Development of Science Competences as a Result of Interdisciplinary Integration

Development of Science Competences as a Result of Interdisciplinary Integration Kornelia Žarić and Darinka Sikošek Chemistry Department Chair of Chemical Education, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Slovenia ABSTRACT Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics from the University of Maribor in Slovenia is carrying out a national project entitled Development of Science Competences, which is financially supported by Slovenian Ministry of Education and Sport and partly by European Social Fund within the European Union. We are actively involved in the field of chemical education and together with a group of scientists participate in the process of developing new didactic materials, models and strategies for teaching chemistry in Slovenian elementary and secondary schools in order to raise the overall level of scientific literacy. We would like to highlight the importance and the necessity of interdisciplinary integration between natural and social sciences, especially in combining science and English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction. The article presents two different teaching strategies for active learning of specific chemistry topics through reading a passage in a chemistry textbook and listening to a didactic song in English. Keywords: development of science competences, interdisciplinary integration, scientific literacy, chemistry, English as a foreign language (EFL). 1. INTRODUCTION With regard to European aspirations for a competitive and dynamic knowledge-based society, key competences need to be acquired by young people through education and training during their compulsory education, equipping them for adult life and forming the basis for their lifelong learning [3]. Key competences represent a transferable package of knowledge, skills and attitudes which all individuals need for their personal fulfillment or development, social inclusion and employability and represent one of the prerequisites for the proper functioning of the person in life, at work and in further learning. The most structured and systematic manner in which they are obtained by the young people is through regular educational system, but in this way it is impossible to obtain all of them and to develop them fully. Therefore, young people develop key competences through various forms of informal learning. They are transferable and thus useful in many situations, but also multifunctional, which means that they can be used to achieve different objectives, to resolve various kinds of problems and to execute different types of tasks [4]. Eight key competences, which provide a reference framework to support national and European efforts to achieve the objectives defined by the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 November 2006 are listed below [3]: communication in mother tongue; communication in foreign languages; mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology; digital competence; learning to learn; social and civic competences; sense of initiative and entrepreneurship; cultural awareness and expression. Since key competences are too general and therefore cannot be directly used for the operationalization of learning strategies, methods, choice of contents and forms of work, generic and subject specific competences need to be introduced. While generic competences are mostly independent of specific subject areas, subject-specific competences usually highly depend on a certain subject [3],[4]. Within the project ''Development of science competences'', we are mainly dealing with active teaching methods and strategies, which enable the development of generic competences from the list,

created on the basis of Meyer s committee report in 1991[3]: ability of collecting information; ability of analyzing and organizing information; ability of interpretation; ability of reflection and discussion; ability to learn and solve problems; ability to transfer theory into practice; ability to use mathematical ideas and techniques; ability to adjust to new situations; concern for quality; ability of individual and team work; ability to work organization and planning; ability of verbal and written communication; ability of interpersonal interaction; safety at work. 2. INTERDISCIPLINARY TEACHING & CURRICULUM INTEGRATION In Slovenian teaching practice we can notice the fragmentation of learning contents to small parts instead of forming a whole. This can be seen in the separation of subject contents to individual learning subjects, among which exist rare and weak links and what follows is a further separation to individual lessons. Due to the high fragmentation of knowledge, students experience many difficulties in linking information into an understandable, useful and meaningful whole. Because of the breadth and depth of information many topics are not addressed in schools. Much of the curriculum that is contained in textbooks is neither timely nor relevant to students lives. Therefore, it is difficult for teachers to engage students in studying any material in depth and to make connections between subject areas and topics [2]. According to more permanent and highquality knowledge achieved through a holistic or problem based approach while dealing with the content, it would be advisory for the teachers to plan as many interdisciplinary didactic sets as possible. Interdisciplinary teaching is a set of methods, used to teach a unit across different curricular disciplines. The interdisciplinary model of teaching enables students to see the links between subject areas. There are several different types or levels of interdisciplinary teaching [1]. Schools might follow an interdisciplinary team approach, where teachers of different content areas are assigned to one group of students who are encouraged to correlate some of their teaching [5]. A thematic unit, in which a common theme, issue, problem, topic or experience is studied in more content areas, is the most common method of implementing integrated, interdisciplinary instruction [6]. James Beane is one of the greatest experts of interdisciplinary teaching techniques who advocates for curriculum integration. It has four major components: the integration of experiences, social integration, the integration of knowledge, and integration as a curriculum design. It emerges from questions or social concerns students have, with no regard to subject delineations [1]. Interdisciplinary teaching enables high-quality achievement of educational goals, especially if it is planned in terms of didactic sets at the milestone level, and thus brings many advantages for all creators of teaching. Common planning time is vital, schools that team have a more positive work climate, parental contact is more frequent, teachers report a higher job satisfaction. Integrated instruction helps teachers better utilize instructional time and look deeper into subjects through a variety of content-specific lens, while giving students the opportunity to see the relationship between content areas and engage in authentic tasks. Another benefit of integrated instruction is that teachers can better differentiate instruction to individual student needs and that students have a chance to work with various sources of information, thus ensuring they are receiving a more inclusive perspective than they would from consulting one textbook [7]. Development of interdisciplinary curriculum It is highly recommended that students have curriculum experiences that reflect both: a discipline-based and an interdisciplinary orientation, because students cannot fully benefit from interdisciplinary studies until they acquire enough knowledge in various disciplines. Teachers must design and implement curriculum based on the scope and sequence of the integrated disciplines and be flexible enough to form and revise the curriculum according to specific students needs [5]. What is more, interdisciplinary curriculum should only be used when the problem reflects the need to overcome fragmentation, relevance, and the growth of knowledge. Interdisciplinary units, which offer students the opportunity to see connections and

relevance between topics and provide a variety of perspectives, should also engage the students in epistemological questions such as ''What is knowledge? '' ''What do we know? '' and ''How can we present knowledge in schools? '' [7] Students should be involved in the planning and development of interdisciplinary units, which must involve [1], [2].: selecting focus or thematic topic; generating ideas or connections between related topics; establishing guided questions for the scope and sequence of the unit; designing activities in order to fulfill the goals of the unit Interdisciplinary teaching is appropriate when the following options are available: time, place, collaboration, and of course, will 3. INTEGRATION OF SCIENCE AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION EFL, English as a foreign language, indicates the use of English in a non-english-speaking region. Study mostly occurs in the student's home country, as part of the normal school curriculum [6]. In general, Slovenian students have a pretty good command of English, even at an early age, which is due to working with a computer, watching English speaking movies, using mobile phones and of course, surfing the Internet. In Slovenian elementary schools there have been tendencies for the first foreign language (English) to be offered as an optional subject to first grade students and as a compulsory subject to second grade students in the scope of two hours per week. So why not integrate science and English language education? Unfortunately, many teachers who teach science or English language resist to believe that these two subject areas are interdependent. The language teachers do not meet the language needs of students within the objectives of the subject. Sometimes they think that the content of teaching materials is not important. Similarly, teachers cannot understand the content of language issues, or be prepared to use EFL methods for those students with little or no experience [6]. But the integrated approach is necessary for both: language and science in order to fill the gap that usually separates the two disciplines. Students can improve their language skills in learning science as the context or theme of the lessons. Once a scientific subject was discussed and the students shared their knowledge of it, the relevant vocabulary can be taught. As well as standards of grammar or the writing process may be considered by the language or translation activities that are planned [5]. The science process skills such as observation, prediction, communication, classification and analysis are similar to the language learning skills of information retrieval, comparison, management, synthesis and evaluation [5]. These skills are important clues to the teaching of science in language acquisition. It is necessary to motivate and engage students to talk, ask questions, learn a new vocabulary, and write their thoughts as well as to be actively involved in the exploration of science or scientific research. Integrating literacy activities in the teaching of science helps to clarify the concept of science, which could be interesting for students. Reading, writing and teaching content area can be integrated into a lesson or unit. Although the degree of implementation may vary considerably, the principles and procedures remain the same. As a teacher helps students develop research process science skills, process skills and language learning strategies are both under development [6]. Following the integrated approach teachers use a variety of integrated methods of teaching as learning from surveys, cooperative learning, brainstorming, practical, interactive activities, etc. Different teaching strategies can be used more frequently in class such as: integrated graphics, demonstrations, pre-reading and pre-writing activities. Providing opportunities to use language in meaningful contexts, teachers can facilitate the transition of students traditional courses [1], [5]. Teachers should try to increase academic performance and language skills simultaneously by integrating a component of language and science in every lesson should. To develop science and clear performance language, teachers need to rely on standards of knowledge and expertise in the area of science, standards of proficiency prior to performance and available teaching materials.

Through interdisciplinary teaching students also develop the ability to perform other tasks related to the content, such as laboratory experiments, scientific calculations and historical research. They learn how to solve problems, evaluate solutions and collaborate effectively with any of these activities by using appropriate foreign language [5]. Integration of chemistry, English language and The aim of our work is to educate well experienced chemistry teachers as well as beginners to the extent that they themselves realize the need for interdisciplinary integration. Teachers should not stay at the level of using active teaching methods only within the scope of their professional field, but we believe that they should encourage their students to be able to find different links between particular chemical contents. Even though chemistry can be in most cases directly linked to biology and physics, it is advisable to have a look from a wider perspective and seek for indirect links to foreign languages, mathematics, art, music, history, etc. Although chemistry may be considered as one of the toughest subjects among majority of students, which is mainly due to its primary function in micro world, with the use of appropriate teachings methods and interdisciplinary oriented teaching strategies, it can become one of the most interesting and easily understood scientific disciplines. Later in the article we present two different strategies of interdisciplinary teaching: discovering the basics of intermolecular forces by reading and analyzing a passage from chemistry textbook written in English and creating a concept map; learning about fundamental characteristics of acids and bases by reading and listening to a didactic English song entitled ''Acids and Bases Have Two Different Faces'' (by Mike Offutt, 1989). The teaching lessons are divided into three separate units. In the first teaching unit the main emphasis is on the central reading activity, where students are engaged in reading a professional text on chemical content ''Intermolecular forces'' in English language, underlining and writing the most important key concepts, translating these concepts into Slovene and finally defining their inter-connections in a sense of hierarchy. Figure 1: An insert from chemistry textbook: Hydrogen bonding in water The next lesson takes place in a computer classroom, where by using a computer program ''Inspiration'' or ''CMap'' students are supposed to draw a concept map based on hierarchical connections between chosen key concepts the task from the previous lesson. Teacher's role here is only supportive. After finishing the activity, students are supposed to present their work to the teacher as well as to their classmates and explain what problems they encountered during reading a foreign text, what strategy did they use for the selection of key concepts, what influenced their decision about a particular hierarchical link and why did they use different forms of concept maps. 4. LEARNING ABOUT INTERMOLECULAR FORCES BY DRAWING CONCEPT MAPS This particular teaching strategy is a great example of interdisciplinary approach, where chemistry, English language and computer education are interconnected. The method of structuring data into systems and the text based method are at the forefront. The developed didactic material is appropriate to be tested in the first and second year of grammar school. Figure 2: Schematic illustration of CMAP program tools 2

In the final lesson, students take a short test on ''Intermolecular forces'' and in the last 15 minutes the teacher and the students complete a questionnaire, providing direct feedback on the effectiveness of the proposed teaching strategy. Which competences are developed when using the proposed teaching strategy? Students are encouraged to develop and strengthen their reading skills in English as a first foreign language, the ability to obtain and analyze new information, to select key concepts from the professional text, to extend the collection of foreign chemical concepts, to interconnect terms and make hierarchical connections. Moreover, students should develop the ability of drawing an appropriate form of concept either manually of with a help of a specific computer program. They should also be able to recognize their own mistakes and evaluate other as well as one's own achievements. Evaluation Results 30 second grade students from grammar school tested the didactic material in a form of revision of the chemical content ''Types of intermolecular forces'', which they got familiar with in the first grade. Due to a very small sample, we performed a qualitative analyses of the students responses provided on the survey questionnaire. Evaluation results have shown students enthusiasm over the new teaching approach, they were able to carefully structure the data into systems by finding logical links between the chosen keywords and practice computer skills when drawing concept maps. Most of the students agree that the tasks were diverse and helped them to promote their logical thinking, instructions for work were clear and presented in a very transparent and interesting way. They share a common opinion that the teaching material covers enough of concepts, data, definitions as well as basic theories that allow them to grasp basic principles and directions of the development of this area. All students believe the teaching activity was different from the usual courses of instruction in a positive way, the set concept allowed them greater autonomy at work and the majority of students was highly motivated for work. Even if there was no time to test the computer programs for drawing concept maps in the classroom, students were acquainted with them and they could try them out at home, online and for free. 5. ACIDS AND BASES THROUGH MUSIC ANG ENGLISH LANGUAGE In order to make chemistry learning easier and more attractive, we have also developed an interesting interdisciplinary teaching strategy for learning the content of acids and bases through a song called ''Acids and Bases Have Two Different Faces'' (Mike Offutt, 1989). The didactic material is structured in such a way that it enables the implementation of two teaching units using the method of listening to music and music didactic games, supported by the text-based method and structuring data into systems. It is characterized by a recommended core activity - listening to a didactic song in English with the primary chemical content (acids and bases) and a multidisciplinary approach, since chemistry is directly associated with English and music education. In this way, students are able to acquire chemical content in a varied, interesting and active way, while developing certain key competences as well as a set of generic and subject-specific competences. This teaching approach enables the development of auditory learning style in conjunction with a visual learning style, as the activities are planned to complement one another all the time. For this purpose authors acquired the recording of the song on the website http://www.youtube.com and developed a didactic material, which consists of: audio recording of the song in English; song s lyrics in English; presentation of lyrics in combination with visual and acoustic lining in Microsoft Power Point; instructions for the teacher; working-observation sheets for students; post test; evaluation questionnaire for students and teachers. Only a few students expressed difficulties in understanding certain foreign chemical vocabulary in the English text and therefore could not make the correct inter-connections between the key concepts.

of science and English as a foreign language at all levels of elementary and secondary education. What is more, chemistry teachers should constantly cooperate with their colleagues from different subject areas in the process of planning and carrying out interdisciplinary lessons and thus achieving greater motivation and better learning performance of their students. ''The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. '' (Robert Maynard Hutchins) 7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Figure 3: Power Point Presentation of song s lyrics. It is an active educational strategy of direct acquisition of basic properties of acids and bases, using music, images and text. Students learn typical chemistry content by first reading the songs lyrics, defining the keywords and after that hearing the song playing on the computer. Authors carefully prepared a short video matching songs lyrics. By listening to the song and watching the video for three times, students should learn the song by heart. Through this very attractive approach, students should develop their reading and observational skills as well as their logical thinking and reasoning which would most probably leading to a better understanding of basic characteristics of acids and bases. Therefore a chemistry, English and music teacher could join forces to carry out a successful interdisciplinary didactic unit. Evaluation Results The didactic material was tested on 25 ninth grade students, representing an experimental group. Chemistry teacher and an English native speaker mutually carried out the lesson. According to the teacher s qualitative evaluation report all of the students praised the new teaching strategy and would like to study other chemistry topics in the same way as well. They were very motivated for learning and especially liked listening to the song and singing it over and over again. The teacher, who is very much aware of the fact that cross-curricular links are very important, described the students as active and stated that at the end it was a pleasure to listen to them singing and understanding what they were singing. 6. CONCLUSIONS According to the very promising preliminary results of the tested didactic materials, we would once again like to highlight the importance of integration The paper is based on work supported by the Ministry of Education and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia and the European Social Fund in the framework of Project: Development of Natural Science Competences at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the University of Maribor, Slovenia. 8. REFERENCES 1 J. Beane, Curriculum Integration. Teachers College Press: New York, 1997. 2 S.,E DiCarlo, Too Much Content, Not Enough Thinking and Too Little Fun! Advances in Physiology Education, Vol. 33, No. 4, 2009, pp.257-264. 3 Europa - Summaries of EU Legislation (online), Key competences for lifelong learning, Retreived January 28, 2001 from: http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/education_tr aining_youth/lifelong_learning/c11090_en.htm 4 Eurydice, Key competencies - A developing concept in general compulsory education. EU: Eurydice European Unit., 2002. 5 Science Information (online), The integration of language and science education, Retreived February 6, 2011 from: http://scienceinformationonine.blogspot.com/2010/0 5/integration-of-language-and-science.html 6 T. Stoddart, A.Pinal, M. Latzke, D. Canaday, Integrating Inquiry Science and Language Development for English Language Learners, Journal of Research in Science Teaching Vol. 39, No. 8, 2002, pp. 644-687. 7 K. Wood, Interdisciplinary instruction: A practical guide for elementary and middle school teachers. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill, 1997.