| The purpose of this study was to characterize instruction in integrated middle school mathematics and science classrooms. Specifically, this study examined the beliefs of teachers who integrate mathematics and science, the level of integration of the tasks used in integrated classrooms, and specific aspects of integrated classrooms including the Grouping arrangements, contexts of the tasks, sources of authority, and types of discourse. The study involved multiple case studies of four middle school teachers using the Integrated Mathematics, Science, and Technology (IMaST) Curriculum designed at Illinois State University. Two seventh-grade and two eighth-grade teachers participated in the study.;Data collection included self-reported background data, classroom observations, a beliefs survey, structured interviews for teachers, and student-focus-group sessions for selected students from each class. A qualitative data analysis method was used to analyze the data.;The findings suggest that the classroom instructional practices in integrated mathematics and science classrooms are similar to those espoused by the current mathematics and science reform documents. Consistent with previous research, this study found that one of the benefits to integrating mathematics and science was the natural connections that these two disciplines have and the real-world connections that students recognized. The level of integration found in tasks varied on Huntley's Math/Science Continuum. This suggests that it is not necessary for each task in an integrated mathematics and science classroom to be fully integrated. Having a curriculum that was designed to integrate mathematics and science helped teachers make connections even when they did not explicitly try to do so. It was found that the students in these integrated classrooms saw mathematics and science connections as well as real-life connections in all the activities they participated. The aspect of connection making by students in integrated mathematics and science classrooms was not accounted for in Huntley's Math/Science Continuum. |
