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Summarizes evidence favoring integrated curricula over departmentalized programs and highlights team-based teacher coordination as a driver of improved teaching and learning outcomes. Describes CE-MIST literacy trunks and their planning structure centered on essential questions and writing 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is interdisciplinary planning emphasized in middle-level education?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"It supports integrating disciplines through common themes, helping students relate content to meaningful contexts and real-life applications.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"What evidence supports integrated or interdisciplinary curricula for middle students?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"Over 60 years of studies indicate middle-level students perform better with interdisciplinary or integrated curricula than with departmentalized programs.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"How do the CE-MIST literacy trunks support interdisciplinary teaching and learning?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"They align standards from two or more content areas, use essential questions as a frame, and connect writing activities to learning goals while enabling adaptable unit 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in the Middle: Teachers in Interdisciplinary Planning\u003Cbr>Gary Senn\u003Cbr>University of South Carolina Aiken, [senng@usca.edu](senng@usca.edu)\u003Cbr>Deborah McMurtrie\u003Cbr>University of South Carolina Aiken, [deborahmc@usca.edu](deborahmc@usca.edu)\u003Cbr>Bridget Coleman\u003Cbr>University of South Carolina-Aiken, [BridgetC@usca.edu](BridgetC@usca.edu)\u003Cbr>Follow this and additional works at: [https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cimle](https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cimle)\u003Cbr> Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, and the Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons |  |\n\nRecommended Citation  \nSenn, Gary; McMurtrie, Deborah; and Coleman, Bridget (2019) \"Collaboration in the Middle: Teachers in Interdisciplinary Planning,\" Current Issues in Middle Level Education: Vol. 24 : Iss. 1 , Article 6.  \nAvailable at: [https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cimle/vol24/iss1/6](https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cimle/vol24/iss1/6)  \nThis best practices is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Current Issues in Middle Level Education by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, [please contact](please contact digitalcommons@georgiasouthern.edu)[ digitalcommons@georgiasouthern.edu](please contact digitalcommons@georgiasouthern.edu).  \nSenn et al.: Collaboration in the Middle: Teachers in Interdisciplinary Planning  \nCollaboration in the Middle: Teachers in Interdisciplinary Planning  \nGary Senn  \nDeborah McMurtrie  \nBridget Coleman  \nUniversity of South Carolina Aiken  \nHow can middle level educators collaborate to promote increased and effective interdisciplinary planning? With increased focus on STEM and STEAM, educators are looking for ways to integrate disciplines. Planning content around a common theme is an avenue for an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning in the middle grades. Middle grade educators must find ways to relate content to their students in meaningful ways. Cross-curricular integration of content areas is one way to do that. Providing opportunities for students to explore topics connected across content areas strengthens students’ understanding and investigation of real-life applications. Middle-level students require ongoing, concrete, experiential learning in order to develop intellectually (AMLE, 2010) and an integrated curriculum that is more  \ncompatible with the way their brains work (Vars, 2001) .  \nOver 60 years of studies provide evidence that middle-level students perform better with an interdisciplinary or integrated curriculum than with departmentalized programs (Irvin, 1997) . Historically, educators such as John Dewey, Howard Gardener, and Benjamin Bloom have  \nemphasized the value of contextual learning. An integrated curriculum can provide students  \nmeaningful opportunities to connect learning in and out of school (Beane, 1997; Vars, 2001) .  \nIntegration promotes the relevance of classroom learning by making the curriculum more  \nmeaningful to students’ lives (Hargreaves & Moore, 2000) . Implementing interdisciplinary unit  \nplanning will encourage teachers to move beyond their content areas and provide opportunities  \nto create curriculum more relevant to adolescents (Stolle & Frambaugh-Kritzer, 2014) . In This  \nWe Believe, the AMLE (2010) promotes a challenging, exploratory, integrative, and relevant  \ncurriculum for middle level students. The learning that takes place in schools should also reflect the world outside the classroom. In life we don’t face situations by asking which part is science,  \nwhich is reading, and so on (Beane, 1993) . For example, interdisciplinary tasks can enable  \nstudents to see mathematics data as more than just numbers. Students will have the opportunity","cbCain0ulEPi6mXx","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCain0ulEPi6mXx","pdf",208259,"English","# Collaboration in the Middle: Teachers in Interdisciplinary Planning\n## The Interdisciplinary Planning Process","[{\"question\":\"Why is interdisciplinary planning emphasized in middle-level education?\",\"answer\":\"It supports integrating disciplines through common themes, helping students relate content to meaningful contexts and real-life applications.\"},{\"question\":\"What evidence supports integrated or interdisciplinary curricula for middle students?\",\"answer\":\"Over 60 years of studies indicate middle-level students perform better with interdisciplinary or integrated curricula than with departmentalized programs.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the CE-MIST literacy trunks support interdisciplinary teaching and learning?\",\"answer\":\"They align standards from two or more content areas, use essential questions as a frame, and connect writing activities to learning goals while enabling adaptable unit plans.\"}]","Collaboration in the Middle: Teachers in Interdisciplinary Planning - Article 6 | PDF",13]