On subject differences in applying knowledge to learn

Abstract

There is a view underpinning current perspectives on learning, teaching and the curriculum that children apply their knowledge to learn in different ways according to the academic subject. In line with this view, since the 1988 Education Reform Act, the National Curriculum has insisted on the learning and teaching of distinct and separate subjects as a means not only of learning distinct bodies of knowledge but also as a means of learning different ways of knowing. There is, however, scant evidence to support the assumption that children's application of knowledge to learn in the classroom is different from subject to subject. The aim of the study reported here was to explore what children do to learn in classrooms at the level of cognition, and to investigate whether they apply their knowledge to learn differently in different academic subjects. A qualitative study was designed to investigate twelve 10‐year‐old children as they engaged with a task in each of the three core subjects of the National Curriculum, namely, mathematics, science and English. ‘Think‐aloud’ protocols were used as a research tool, and in the analysis of the case studies, a model of knowledge application was developed. The results of the study suggested that while there were marked differences in children's attitudes to mathematics, science and English, and in their feelings about themselves in relation to the subjects, there was little difference in the ways the children applied their knowledge to learn in the three subjects. The evidence suggested that the children focused on the efficient completion of tasks, regardless of subject, as a way of adapting to the classroom environment. In conclusion, the implications for teaching and learning are discussed.