Math and Science Integrated Curriculum: Pedagogical Knowledge-Based Education Framework

Abstract

Many researchers investigated students' attitudes towards learning mathematics and science. Educators were trying to be more innovative in creating different teaching strategies to engage students in these subjects which they find complex or not relevant to their lives. Namely, curriculum designers were trying to find ways to make these subjects more enjoyable and meaningful for students. Many studies found that the problem could be in the way that teachers use to deliver these subjects but not in the content itself. Additionally, students cannot see the benefits of the learnt output coming out of studying several topics in science or mathematics. As educators, we realized that many skills like problem solving, investigation, critical thinking, interpretation, creativity, reasoning, and others cannot be gained easily when the knowledge is separated away of the application in real world. This study tends to give an example of how we can integrate mathematics and science curriculum in a pedagogical knowledge-based framework that enables teachers to show how beneficial and effective is this scientific knowledge in real world application, particularly by using an integrated curriculum. Knowledge and skill from 6th grade in Bahraini public schools were used to design the integrated model.