Interdisciplinary Learning: Creative Curriculum Planning

In this essay I will be focusing on the learning opportunities that my creative medium term plan offers for the humanities subjects. I will also be analysing ‘interdisciplinary learning’ and reflecting on current theories, readings and pedagogies which have influenced my thought process and chosen lessons. The plan I have created focuses on ‘World Foods’ and is designed as ten sessions which run through one week of school, and will be taught to a year 6 class.
Interdisciplinary learning involves children being able to describe and explain events or practises whilst solving complex problems, interpreting new ideas and posing new questions. It has been recognised that interdisciplinary learning is effective and can provide challenging, enjoyable and stimulating learning experiences for children. (Educationscotland.gov.uk, 2014)
I decided to use the book ‘Hungry Planet: What the World Eats’ (Menzel and D'Aluisio, 2005) as a stimulus for my planning. The book includes pictures and information about different families and foods from around the world. As I wanted the plans to build upon the children’s enquiry based learning, I felt that ‘World foods’ would be an interesting topic for them to explore. Although food can be a sensitive topic, through my experience in various schools, I know that year 6 children will be able to build on their prior knowledge and understand values, beliefs and misconceptions. This topic will also develop their curiosity and support the children in making sense of the real world for themselves through tasks such as food tasting and a visit to the local allotment (Pickford, Garner and Jackson, 2013).
When considering how to plan my lessons I reflected on my School Based Training (SBT) placements in school. ...

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