Deliberation on possibilities and desirability of interdisciplinary curriculum development

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities and desirability of interdisciplinary curriculum at the high school level based on curriculum development processes and products of Science and Arts Academy for the gifted. The processes and products of curriculum development were reviewed through the lens of the Walker’ naturalistic model for curriculum development. In the platform stage, the change of social environments and the theoretical grounds of attempts integrating the domain of science and arts were analysed. During the deliberation stage, the issues and alternatives were identified concerning key competencies, the definition and diverse approaches of interdisciplinary curriculum, and the curriculum structure design. In the design and validation stage, the processes and products of a set of design decisions were presented. Through the deliberation process on the possibilities and desirability of the interdisciplinary curriculum at the high school level, we conclude that the interdisciplinary curriculum needs to focus on fostering the interdisciplinary skills rather than attempting to teach a subsumption of disciplines. In the high school level the excessive specialization should be sublated and students are to be led to the global optimization through the wide exposure to various disciplines and experiences . As the keys to the successes of the interdisciplinary curriculum, clarification of the meaning and purposes of interdisciplinary curriculum, the needs of entire life cycle design for interdisciplinary learning, and the validity criteria of interdisciplinary curriculum were presented.