Art Institute 2000

Africa & Its Influences, Jazz & America, and Considering the Postmodern

2000
University of Maryland, College Park

Steps for Constructing an Interdisciplinary Unit

Sydney Walker, The Ohio State University

Click here to view more presentation materials from Dr. Walker.

Steps for Constructing a Unit

Step 1: Choose a big idea. Write a rationale.
Step 2: Develop essential understandings for the big idea.
Step 3: Choose a related topic for teaching the big idea.
Step 4: Develop essential understandings for the related topic.
Step 5: Choose appropriate discipline outcomes and expectations.
Step 6: Develop 1-4 essential questions which incorporate the big idea, topic idea, and discipline outcomes and expectations.
Step 7: Develop assessment criteria for the unit.
Step 8: Develop instructional activities, lesson objectives & assessment.

Step One

Choosing a Big Idea

What's the BIG IDEA?

Examples:

weather	conformity	death	nature	heroes	community
dreams	power	rituals	fantasy	humor	migration
utopias	hunger	traditions	culture	racism	spirituality
life cycles	materialism	control	celebration	identity	suffering
conflict	interdependence	idealism	loss	altruism	diversity
change	justice	freedom	chance	independence	passion
excess	obsession	submission	corruption

Big ideas address human concerns. They are broader than any specific subject area or discipline.

Choosing a big idea

Experts emphasize that choosing a fruitful idea/theme is critical to the success of an interdisciplinary unit.

Guidelines

What is so important about this idea/theme? Does it matter to students today? Will it matter in the future?
Does the idea/theme have significant relevance and application to the real world?
Is it age-appropriate?
Are resources readily available?
Does it apply to a range of subject areas?
Does it contain challenging contrasts and similarities?
Does it contain sufficient complexity?
Is it likely to fascinate students once they become immersed in it?

Why are big ideas important for the classroom?

Big ideas can broaden subject matter content

Example: The study of important jazz figures might be expanded from the study of individuals to an investigation of tradition within the artform and what causes it to change.

Example: The study of African artforms might be expanded from a formalist study of techniques and forms to a study of the influence of cultural values on artforms.

Example: The study of Hamlet might be expanded to a study of interpreting past works through postmodern doubt.

Example: the study of Maya Lin's Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. might be expanded from a study of a single artwork to a larger unit based upon the influence of postmodern thought on public art.

Big Ideas can provide meaningful connections for interdisciplinary study.

Example: The study of dreams might be the connecting link for a unit of study that included drama, visual art, music and dance. Each of these subject areas could address the same essential questions and understandings such as What is the relationship between dreams and reality?, What questions do dreams raise about life?, How important are dreams?, How have artists, musicians, and performers used dreams in their works?

Example: The study of humans and nature might be the connecting link between drama, visual art, music, and dance. Each of these subject areas could address the same essential questions and understandings such as What are the different attitudes that humans have toward nature?, How are these attitudes reflected by musicians, performers, and artists?

Big Ideas can provide greater relevancy for students.

Subject matter content can be expanded to big ideas which reflect the life-world of students with instruction focused around student issues and concerns.

Example: The study of monuments might acquire greater meaning for students if taught under the big idea of heroes and such questions as What makes a hero?, Why do we honor heroes with monuments?, and Who are my heroes?

Example: The study of contemporary photography might acquire greater meaning for students if taught under the big idea of popular culture and the arts.

Big Idea:

Art and Society

Step One
Brainstorm words which come to mind when you think about this big idea.

Step Two
Developing the big idea into essential understandings.

What are essential understandings?

The essential understandings are the key ideas/concepts which you want students to comprehend about the big idea. What is most important about this idea? What concepts do students need to understand in order to examine this idea with complexity?

How do you develop essential understandings?

Brainstorm words which you associate with this idea.
Choose the most relevant or 'telling' words and create essential understandings.

Example: If the big idea is society and the arts, several 'telling' words might be: tradition, change, power, influence. Essential understandings might be: "Social traditions influence the development of new artforms; Change in society can create changes in artforms."

Developing Essential Understandings

Use the most significant terms which you generated about society and art to develop essential understandings.

Step 3
Choosing a related topic for teaching the big idea

The key term is related. How related is the topic to the big idea? How will this topic allow you to engage students with the big idea? A related topic may be a particular group of artists, performers, artworks; a historical period; cultural group; social topic; and so forth.

Guidelines

What is so important about this topic? Does it matter to students today? Will it matter in the future?
Does the topic have significant relevance and application to the real world?
Is it age appropriate?
Are resources readily available?
Does it apply to a range of subject areas?
Does it contain challenging contrasts and similarities?
Does it contain sufficient complexity?
Is it likely to fascinate students once they become immersed in it?

Hint: You may choose the topic first and then find a related big idea.

Step 4
Develop essential understandings for the related topic

Use the same strategies suggested for developing essential understandings about the big idea.

Step 5
Choosing appropriate discipline outcomes and learner expectations.

Look to your curriculum guides and state outcomes as a source of these ideas and understandings. Seek learner outcomes which represent broad, encompassing ideas which you consider as significant to understanding your subject area. These are ideas which you would most likely teach repeatedly in different lessons, courses, and grade levels.

Example: Essential Learner Outcomes and Expectations for Middle School, Maryland State Department of Education, Theatre-Learner Expectation: The student will demonstrate knowledge of relationships among past and present theatre activities.

This learner expectation implies the idea that theatre is characterized by certain conventions and practices which have occurred over time. This represents an important discipline idea because:

It is a broad idea which students might encounter in many different lessons in the same course or different courses.
It contains a concept about theatre.
It represents important knowledge for understandings the theatre..

Step 6
Develop 1-4 essential questions which incorporate the big idea, topic idea, and discipline outcomes and expectations.

These are the questions which direct and focus the unit. Every lesson should address at least one of these questions. At the conclusion of the unit, assessment of student learning should focus on the students' abilities to explore and grapple with these questions.

Guidelines for Constructing Essential Questions

The questions should prompt students to think critically, analyze, create, and make judgements about information and experience.
The questions should stimulate debate and discussion.
The questions should be of interest and importance to students. The language of the questions should be age appropriate. Students should be able to understand them.
The questions should encourage students to make connections among ideas.
Each question should be distinct and non repetitious.
Each question should contain a significant concept.
The questions should become major assessment tools at the conclusion of the unit.

Developing Essential Questions

Step 7
Develop assessment criteria for the unit

The answer to the question, "What should students understand and be able to do as a result of this unit?" should reflect the essential understandings of the big idea, topic, and learner outcomes and expectations. You may have more specific assessments built into individual lessons, but the overall assessment for the unit should be conceived in broad terms. What is really important for students to take away from the unit? What learning will have an impact on their lives ten/twenty years into the future? Often developing the assessment criteria is a matter of changing the language of the essential understandings or questions.

Example:

Essential Questions:

1. Why and how do artforms change?

2. How does society affect changes in artforms?

3. How do we learn to respond to new art forms?

Assessment:

Students should be able to explain why and how artforms change, citing relevant examples from the development of jazz.

Students should be able to compare and contrast the differences between traditional and jazz musical forms.

Students should be able to argue for or against the role of society in establishing critical opinion about jazz.

Step 8
Develop instructional activities, lesson objectives & assessment.

Instructional activities should be based upon developing understanding of the big idea, essential understandings, and questions and discipline outcomes and expectations. Such activities should engage students with:

Constructing knowledge to develop deeper and more complex understandings.
Problem solving that requires age-appropriate complexity
Thinking in ways that characterize dancers, musicians, artists, actors, critics, historians, writers, directors, designers, and aestheticians.
Communicating understanding and displaying developing skills.