Introduction
Unfortunately, school students are usually taught knowledge artificially divided into subjects without showing the links connecting them. Therefore, it is generally agreed that there should be cross-curricular lessons of different types for the target audience to understand the material from different perspective. Such classes were already implemented in Western countries and proved to be a great success. However, it is no easy matter to prepare and conduct a lesson of that type.
Designing Science and Social Studies Lesson
Admittedly, there can be several strategies how to design a cross-curricular lesson. It seems reasonable for schools to create projects with different institutions because there would be an opportunity to conduct outdoor lessons there. For instance, there is Farmer Ted’s Adventure Farm in the UK, where biology and sociology may be easily merged into one whole (EDCHAT, 2013). Nevertheless, it should be taken into account what links a teacher want to create. It is better to select the material very carefully not to overload students. In addition, there should be distinct instructions for them to follow, because if it comes to an outdoor lesson, children may turn a class into a stroll.
Application to Future Practice
In fact, there is a great desire to take up the new approach to school lessons during future practice. It would be of great value to create strategies for cross-curricular learning. On this occasion, one may invite professionals from different spheres to explain complicated phenomena and provide examples from practice. The teacher will link this experience to other subjects using presentations and videos. Another idea presupposes an outdoor lesson in the park to show the importance of being ecologically friendly and the impact of the environment on the concepts studied during the course of social studies. Well-planned curricular lessons are sure to give the learners a deep insight into the theme (Gifted Guzman, 2020). However, the desire to overwhelm them with a large number of connected ideas is not conducive to positive responses. Hopefully, the balance would be not disrupted.
Conclusion
To sum it up, it is of great importance to implement new techniques in the learning process, especially cross-curricular instruction. Children tend to seek connections between subjects, that is why it would be helpful to find them together at the lesson. There can be many ideas on how to do so during both outdoor and indoor classes. Therefore it would be of great interest to have a try during the first professional practice.
References
EDCHAT. (2013). Teachers TV: Planning a cross-curricular theme. YouTube. Web.
Gifted Guzman. (2020). Cross-curricular lessons. YouTube. Gifted Guzman. Web.