Interdisciplinarity in Teacher Education: Evaluation of the Effectiveness of an Educational Innovation Project

Abstract

Interdisciplinary projects play an important role in the development of a student profile based on the 21st century skills. Nevertheless, the implementation of an interdisciplinary approach is a challenge for both teachers and teacher educators. The aim of this study is to create an interdisciplinary model for teacher education, and to provide an empirical study which analyses its impact on learning. An educational innovation project was carried out with preservice teachers who experienced and subsequently designed a Problem Based Learning with interdisciplinary activities including Mathematics and Social Sciences, using the National Archaeological Museum as an educational resource. The proposals were implemented amongst children to evaluate the project’s effectiveness, considering two aspects: (a) improved teaching skills for preservice teachers (N = 26) and (b) improved learning for Mathematics and Social Sciences content amongst primary school children (N = 58). In the case of the student teachers, the variance analysis implemented showed sufficient empirical evidence of the improvement between the pre and post treatment, in different dimensions of the teaching skills and competences. On the primary school students, some significantly statistic progresses were found concerning the learning of both subjects, as well as their perception of museums as place for learning.

Interdisciplinary Experience Using Technological Tools in Sport Science

“…Interdisciplinarity can facilitate a better understanding of curriculum content and offer higher quality in the acquisition of skills, thus achieving more solid learning [11] due to the relevance of these aspects. In addition, interdisciplinary practices promote the improvement and development of teaching skills [5], improving academic engagement, basic competencies and autonomy in the training of higher education students [21]. On the other hand, proposals for practices such as the one carried out in this study will bring us closer to the development of more thoughtful, critical and self-regulated learning skills.…”

“…This new plan has motivated university faculty to rethink teaching strategies, prioritizing the teaching process over what is taught and framing the contents in the context of their professional future. Under these premises, various debates and investigations [2][3][4][5] have arisen, motivating the launch of a series of experiences aimed to enhance the interrelationship between the knowledge acquired in the different disciplines or subjects.…”

“…In addition, these projects can potentially fulfil students' psychological needs and enhance students' academic engagement. Recently, Santaolalla et al [5] designed and implemented an interdisciplinary model for education teachers, from which they developed an empirical study to analyze its impact on the learning process. Their results indicate an improvement in teaching skills and competencies when comparing pre-and post-experience data.…”

“…In the Spanish educational context, the use of active methodologies is strongly recommended, where autonomous work, decision-making and collaborative work are part of the teaching by competencies. In this sense, interdisciplinarity becomes more relevant, showing a global vision, not isolated, in search of solutions to different challenges or difficulties that society demands [5].…”

Teaching Socio-Emotional Competencies Among Primary School Students: Improving Conflict Resolution and Promoting Democratic Co-existence in Schools

“…Classmates play a significant role in developing social competence. They are one of the main sources of emotional support in a school and contribute substantially in the formation of our identity (Greene, 2006;Olweus and Limber, 2010;Mulryan-Kyne, 2014;Pincham, 2015;Young-Jones et al, 2015;Gonzalez and Ramirez, 2017;Gilar-Corbi et al, 2020;Saitua-Iribar et al, 2020;Santaolalla et al, 2020;Tyumaseva et al, 2020;Wei et al, 2020). However, when a student is continuously exposed to situations of violence in a school environment, there is a break in the socializing functions provided by peers.…”