A Preliminary Study On The Integration Of Interdisciplinary Concepts Into Junior Middle School Science Education

As an important research field, crosscutting concepts reflect the close connection between scientific concepts. They have been repeatedly mentioned in American representative curriculum standard documents, where two similar concepts once appeared, namely common themes and unifying concepts. Crosscutting concepts are of critical importance in American curriculum reforms. At present, they are examined from the following perspectives abroad:the role of crosscutting concepts; crosscutting concepts-patterns; and the relationship between disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and scientific and engineering practices. Also, they are investigated from the following perspectives at home:the comparison between unifying concepts of National Science Education Standards and crosscutting concepts of A Framework for K-12 Science Education:Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas; the role of crosscutting concepts and the relationship between crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas; the connection of crosscutting concepts and nature of science; the correlation of crosscutting concepts and high school biology curriculum. Crosscutting concepts, transcending the boundaries between different disciplines, serve as the bond between these disciplines and helps students grasp disciplinary core knowledge and ideas. Crosscutting concepts have distinct requirements on different age groups; that is, the higher the grade is, the stricter the requirements are.This paper investigates the correlation between crosscutting concepts and science education in the junior middle school through studying the correspondence and relationship between crosscutting concepts and the curriculum content of biology, physics and chemistry in compulsory education.We chose a middle school in Jiangsu province, and integrated systems and models into the teaching practices of biology in Grade 1, physics in Grade 2, and chemistry in Grade 3. According to the theory of learning progressions, together with Benchmarks of Science Literacy and Atlas of Science Literacy, students ranging from Grade 6 to 8 should master the concepts of systems and models. Based on the characteristics of students in different age groups and their distinct cognitive ability, we identified the concepts of systems and models which junior students should master. Then we carried out the pretest and pro-test of systems and models, the content of which concerned core ideas and knowledge in different disciplines. Our tests aimed to examine whether students had reached the level which crosscutting concepts required and whether the concepts had promoted their mastery of core ideas and knowledge in different disciplines.Results show that crosscutting concepts are commonly seen in the course content of biology, physics and chemistry in the junior middle school, and closely related to relevant knowledge at various levels in the three disciplines, demonstrating the correlation between crosscutting concepts and science education in the junior middle school, thus offering an important theoretical basis for integrating crosscutting concepts with empirical studies and teaching practices in science education in the junior middle school. With the help of the integration, students in experiment classes can basically meet the requirements of crosscutting systems and models on them, and better master core ideas and knowledge in different disciplines.