Mixing disciplines in class proves to be instructive and fun
Print Edition
IN China, when people want to make mock of someone’s poor math ability, they say his instructor must have been a physical education teacher.
On the ladder of professional respect, PE teachers have traditionally been consigned to the bottom rungs. But perceptions are changing.
Some Shanghai schools are now trying to put the skills of all teaching disciplines on an equal footing and pool those resources.
One of them is Shanghai Luwan Middle School, which has adopted an approach called “education without borders.”
For example, one of its basketball classes is taught by PE, math and physics teachers so that students learn about the path a projectile follows under the influence of gravity. In other words, whether a ball sinks in the net or misses the hoop depends on the principles of math and physics.
He Li, principal at the school, told Shanghai Daily that the program was initiated in 2011 by faculty seeking to make classes more informative and interesting. It started with an art teacher trying to teach students about the facial makeup used in Chinese opera.
“I wanted to teach the children something about opera itself before showing them the artistic skill of facial makeup,” said Dong Danyang, the art teacher. “But I was afraid that I would mislead them because I have no particular expertise in opera.” So she turned to a music teacher at the school, and the two of them taught in the same class at the same time. The result pleased both students and faculty.
Enthusiastic about the new system, Dong went on to develop other co-curricular classes, such as combining Chinese painting with lessons on classical poetry or traditional music.
Today, all the school’s faculty are involved in “education without borders” and the number of subjects that can be overlapped has come as a surprise to everyone.
One popular class about the Chinese tradition of Spring Equinox, one of the 24 “solar terms” in China, involved teachers of physics, chemistry and biology.
One of the customs associated with Spring Equinox is the 4,000-year-old game of trying to stand an egg upright, which is believed to bring good luck.
The physics teacher showed the students how to find the center of mass of an egg, while the chemistry teacher demonstrated a technique to “corrode” the surface of the egg to create a flatter bottom. The biology teacher taught them the structure of eggs and how to shake them so that the relatively heavier yolks sink to the bottom and create more stability.
“Students loved the class,” He said. “It had an almost carnival-like atmosphere.”
She said interdisciplinary teaching sometimes sheds new light on old conundrums.
She cited the example of the classic Chinese poem “A Night Mooring at the Maple Bridge,” which includes two lines of verse about the poet in Suzhou hearing the ringing of the midnight bell at the temple on Cold Mountain.
How could he hear the sound from so far away? Some surmised that sound travels better in the quiet of night; others guess it had something to do with sound carrying across water.
When the physics teacher appeared in the poetry class, he gave a more scientific explanation, noting that sound passes downward faster in the evening because the ground temperature is warmer than the air above it.
“So in one class, students learned not only Chinese literary culture but also the science behind our everyday lives,” He said. “It shows how all knowledge is connected. We want to unlock minds and encourage critical thinking.”
The school is now taking its “education without borders” concept a step further, seeking to explore even further beyond traditional boundaries.
The school invited parents with professional opera talent to teach students about the world of Chinese opera and back up their words with excerpts of performances.
There are also faculty exchanges with other schools. Last month, Fursey Gotuaco, the drama teacher at Shanghai Community International School and six international students from his class got together with Luwan students to discuss the renowned Chinese poet Qu Yuan (340-278 BC), whose drowning is said to have inspired the annual Dragon Boat Festival.
Although Shanghai Luwan Middle School is a pacesetter in “education without borders,” it is not the only school exploring new ways to break down old walls.
At Penglai Road No.2 Primary School, for example, teachers of different disciplines get together to design special homework that requires students to draw on knowledge across different subject areas.
Yu Zhen, principal at the school, said she learned the value of interdisciplinary education while on a one-year exchange program at a US primary school in 2010.
“Our students live in the real world, and problems in real life are not restricted to one subject at a time,” said Yu. “Our schools need to cultivate a comprehensive attitude toward life and society.”
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