Walking the Integration Talk: An ArtSci Project

• Main Authors: Astrid Steele, Elizabeth L. Ashworth
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 2013-12-01
• Series: Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• Subjects: art education; science education; integration; grounded theory; teacher education
• Online Access: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cjsotl_rcacea/vol4/iss2/6

As teacher educators, we help prepare elementary generalist teacher-candidates (TCs) for traditional classrooms. In those classrooms, subjects are often taught in isolation rather than as integrated concepts and this practice is reflected in the program at the university where we teach art and science education. Because the world is multidimensional, interconnected, and complex, we created a project that integrates art and science learning as a way to prepare future teachers to provide relevant educational experiences for their students. Data, in the form of reflection papers prepared by the TCs, were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Emergent topics resulted in four propositions that summarize the findings. They all speak to the value of an integrated education experience for TCs. This experience provides different opportunities for learning, offers cognitive “disruption”, enables TCs to articulate pedagogy of integration, and can impact practice and program positively. In addition, three elements essential to an integration project at the tertiary level are identified.