Chapter 16: James Beane’s Integrative Curriculum Approach to Engaging Students in a Study of Social Issues and Community Service

What is an integrated curriculum, and what is its relationship to teaching and studying about social issues? Why should educators be concerned about creating and implementing an integrated curriculum dealing with social issues? How did James Beane become a leading advocate and writer of such a curriculum? The purpose of this chapter is to provide answers to these questions by providing a brief historical overview of the development of the “integrated curriculum” and its focus on the personal and social issues (which is ideal for both the middle and secondary classroom).

Integrated curriculum is not a new idea and has been around since the 1800s. Even from the very beginning, the definition of integrated curriculum varied, and no clear-cut meaning was agreed upon by researchers and educators. Its growth continued through the progressive movement in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, through the inception of the middle level movement in the early 1970s, and on to the present day as educators and researchers wrestled with and debated the merits of an integrated curriculum. Like many terms and concepts in education, “integrated curriculum” has been defined and described in a multitude of ways. Unfortunately, in many ways, the concept of the “integrated curriculum” has become a catchall phrase and has lost its original meaning as a singular concept. Cross-curricular, thematic units, interdisciplinary approaches, multidisciplinary curriculum, multi-subject curriculum, and transdiciplianry curriculum have all been used by various educators and authors as descriptors for “integrated curriculum.” Such approaches and terms are all misapplied and have often resulted in a mishmash of pedagogical endeavors that little resemble a true “integrative approach.”