Abstract
How, when and what kind of learning takes place are key questions in all educational environments. School graduates are expected to have reached a development level whereby they have, among many fundamental skills, the ability to think critically, to plan their studies and their future, and to integrate knowledge across disciplines. However, it is challenging to develop these skills in schools. Following existing curricula, disciplines are often taught separately and by different teachers, making it difficult for students to connect knowledge studied and learned from one discipline to that of another discipline. The Next Generation Science Standards on teaching and learning natural science in the United States point out important crosscutting concepts in science education (NGSS, 2013). In Estonia, similar trends are leading to an emphasis on the need to further develop scientific literacy skills and interdisciplinary learning in students. The changing environment around us must be reflected in changes in our school system. In this paper, we report on research that intends to answer the questions: (a) “How much do Estonian students develop an interdisciplinary understanding of science throughout their high school education?”, and (b) “Is their thinking more interdisciplinary after two years of studies in an Estonian high school?” Additionally, we analyzed the results based on the type of school the students attended, and we examined the use concept mapping to assess interdisciplinary learning. This research is part of an overall study that involved students from 44 Estonian high schools taking a science test similar to the three-dimensional Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test (hereafter called PISA-like multidimensional test) as well as constructing concept maps, while in 10th and 12th grade. In this paper, we report on the analysis of the results for 182 of the students, concentrating on the analysis of the concept maps they constructed. The results suggest that there were changes in the students’ interdisciplinary knowledge, but these were small and varied depending on the students’ school type. They also suggest that changes may be needed in the Estonian educational system to increase the students’ level of interdisciplinary understanding of science.
Highlights
We assume that there is a general desire that citizens are considerate towards each other, have empathy, are willing and able to collaborate, think critically, act wisely, and are able to connect knowledge from different fields and able to think in an interdisciplinary way
We intent to measure the level of interdisciplinary understanding of science topics by Estonian high school students and how it evolves as the students advance through school
We need instruments for evaluating interdisciplinary comprehension, and there is a lack of such assessment instruments
Summary
We assume that there is a general desire that citizens are considerate towards each other, have empathy, are willing and able to collaborate, think critically, act wisely, and are able to connect knowledge from different fields and able to think in an interdisciplinary way These are some of the many behavioral characteristics and competencies which we would like our students to develop (Holbrook & Rannikmäe, 2009; HaridusJA Teadusministeerium, 2018; National Research Council, 2012). Tend to be discipline-based and teachers are mainly focused on the topic they must teach, without giving much consideration for the reality of the topic in context of the world around us, and with little intent in engaging with other topics (Henno, 2015) We question whether such a learning environment leads to an interdisciplinary integration of the various topics by students. We used concept mapping to assess interdisciplinarity in the students’ understanding
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
