James Taylor
International College of Technology, Kanazawa
James Taylor grew up in the Medway Delta in the United Kingdom and holds a BA French and Italian and MA TESOL, both from the University of Leeds. He taught at universities in China and a national eikaiwa chain in Japan before starting work at International College of Technology, Kanazawa, where he currently teaches English and Engineering courses. His research interests include teacher (de)motivation, eikaiwa schools, interdisciplinary collaboration, Design Thinking, and mental health. In his free time, James hosts a radio programme and writes a blog (both bilingual) for a local radio station, FM-N1.
Sessions
Curriculum integration through interdisciplinary collaboration
Interdisciplinary collaboration combines approaches and methods from different disciplines with the intention of improving students’ learning experiences and outcomes (DelliCarpini, 2009). It has been described as having the potential to be a valuable and effective method of professional development (Dove & Honigsfeld, 2010). In this presentation, we describe an ongoing action research project following the cyclical process outlined by Altrichter, Posch and Somekh (1993). We used interdisciplinary collaboration in the form of joint writing and presentation tasks in World History and English Expression (writing) classes in an attempt to increase integration between English and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses at a technical college in Japan. We explain the rationale behind this action research project, its initial implementation and expansion to include other tasks and STEM subjects, and our impressions of the successes, failures, and limitations of the project over the 2 years. We conclude with our plans for future iterations of the project and suggestions for fellow teachers to incorporate interdisciplinary collaboration into their courses.