Dive Brief:

• Lessons that cross multiple classroom subjects not only engage students, but they can also deepen the learning experience in a classroom.
• Educator Audrey Nelson does this by weaving a number of tools into her work with children, bringing more “compelling activities,” into her elementary school classes, she writes in eSchool News. These include the online writing program Turnitin and the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework, a site studded with subject topics aligned to the Common Core state standards.
• Fusing subjects together into one classroom lesson or project — exploring a social studies topic with writing, for example — challenges students and teachers, to think more critically about a topic.

Dive Insight:

What student doesn’t want to cut through multiple topics — and the corresponding studying — at once? Cross-curricular opportunities do weave material from different subjects, yet the idea isn’t to speed-up or truncate classroom time, but to enrich and enliven learning for students.

Rarely are adults presented with problems at work — or in life — that occur in a silo. Balancing a checkbook aside, effective problem-solving requires one to tap into multiple skill sets. Finding an incorrect charge on a credit card requires some adeptness with numbers, as well as skills in persuasive writing to contact a company, asking them to fix the problem.

Classroom lessons should mirror these expectations for students when they leave school, and integrate multiple skills as well. While textbooks don’t often offer roadmaps for cross-curriculum lesson – educators and content specialists can tap into online tools and digital resources to deepen learning and engagement for students.