How to use interdisciplinary knowledge and mind maps to teach unit 11, english textbook 11

Using interdisciplinary knowledge and mind maps toteach Unit 11 , English textbook 11 4-18 Reference books... Basing on these facts, I forcefully used interdisciplinary knowledge andmind

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HOANG HOA 4 HIGH SCHOOL

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

HOW TO USE INTERDISCIPLINARY

KNOWLEDGE AND MIND MAPS TO TEACH UNIT 11,

3 Using interdisciplinary knowledge and mind maps to

teach Unit 11 , English textbook 11

4-18

Reference books

to helping students understand the lessons better and feel more motivated inEnglish lesson.Nevertheless, it is a matter of fact that integrated method ofteaching often take teachers a lot of time and work to prepare well relatedknowledge As most teachers are only trained proffetionally so they havedifficulties getting knowledge of another subjects Therefore, teachers shouldfind out the best method to create new techniques, rediscover the old ones to suitobjectives of current innovations and meet the study demand in the century 21 Basing on these facts, I forcefully used interdisciplinary knowledge andmind maps for many units in English textbook with the aim of enable mystudents to find documents from different sources and to feel more interested,take part more actively in English lessons

2 Aims of the study:

My theme focuses on making clear about some issues below:

- What is interdisciplinarity ?/ what is mind map?

- Why is using interdisciplinarity and mind maps to teach one of innovatorymethods ?

- How are interdisciplinary knowledge and mind map applied?

3 Objects of the study:

The objects chosen for my study and application are 11th grade students inclasses 11A3, 11A2 in Hoang Hoa 4 high school, Thanh Hoa province Thestudents are in natural- science classes tending focus only on their main subjects

such as maths, physics, chemistry and biology So they learn English in passiveway.

4 Methods of the study:

My study is conducted by qualitative methods to collect information, compare,and then, analyse data.By using the combination of these methods my themewill reach effectively the targets of the essay

II- CONTENTS OF THE STUDY

The term interdisciplinary is applied within education and training pedagogies

to describe studies that use methods and insights of several establisheddisciplines or traditional fields of study Interdisciplinarity involves students,and teachers in the goals of connecting and integrating several academic schools

of thought, professions, or technologies- along with their specific

perspectives-in the pursuit of a common task Interdisciplperspectives-inarity can likewise be applied tocomplex subjects that can only be understood by combining the perspectives oftwo or more fields.[2]

For example, the subject of land use may appear differently when examined bydifferent disciplines, for instance, biology, chemistry, economics, geography,and politics

To begin with, a discipline can be conveniently defined as any comparativelyself-contained and isolated domain of human experience which possesses itsown community of experts Interdisciplinarity is best seen as bringing togetherdistinctive components of two or more disciplines In academic discourse,interdisciplinarity typically applies to four realms: knowledge, research,education, and theory Interdisciplinary knowledge involves familiarity withcomponents of two or more disciplines Interdisciplinary research combinescomponents of two or more disciplines in the search or creation of newknowledge, operations, or artistic expressions Interdisciplinary educationmerges components of two or more disciplines in a single program ofinstruction Interdisciplinary theory takes interdisciplinary knowledge, research,

or education as its main objects of study

Interdisciplinary knowledge are important because:[2]

1 "Creativity often requires interdisciplinary knowledge

2 Immigrants often make important contributions to their new field

3 Disciplinarians often commit errors which can be best detected by peoplefamiliar with two or more disciplines

4 Some worthwhile topics of research fall in the interstices among thetraditional disciplines

5 Many intellectual, social, and practical problems require interdisciplinaryapproaches

6 Interdisciplinary knowledge and research serve to remind us of the of-knowledge ideal

unity-7 Interdisciplinarians enjoy greater flexibility in their research

8 More so than narrow disciplinarians, interdisciplinarians often treatthemselves to the intellectual equivalent of traveling in new lands

9 Interdisciplinarians may help breach communication gaps in the modernacademy, thereby helping to mobilize its enormous intellectual resources

in the cause of greater social rationality and justice

10.By bridging fragmented disciplines, interdisciplinarians might play a role

in the defense of academic freedom

What is mind map ?

Mind mapping is a visual form of note taking that offers an overview of a topicand its complex information, allowing students to comprehend, create new ideasand build connections Through the use of colors, images and words, mindmapping encourages students to begin with a central idea and expand outward tomore in-depth sub-topics.:[4]

Mind Map Example

Definition of a Mind Map

A mind map is a visual representation of hierarchical information that includes a

central idea surrounded by connected branches of associated topics

In education mind mapping is a beneficial learning tool to help studentsbrainstorm any topic and think creatively Mind maps are particularly helpful inthe writing process and provide students with a natural way of thinkingand building thoughts on a story plot or theme

Mind maps also provide teachers with insight into their students’ thoughtprocess regarding a specific topic By asking students to create mind mapsdemonstrating their comprehension of a concept, teachers are able to understandwhat a student’s prior knowledge was and how well the student understands theassignment or the material being taught This is a very effective way ofevaluating students’ understanding

2 Practical background

Interdisciplinary teaching and learning give more opportunities for students toconnect new learning with what they know and are interested in It providesmore ways for students to learn and demonstrate their skills and understandings Students from 11A2, 11A3 ( students are interested in chemistry, physics,biology ) are excited about using knowledge of their favourite subjects inEnglish lessons Moreover, interdisciplinary learning helps students buildconfidence to overcome challenges learning new and difficult English wordsbecause it encourages students to become personally invested in their work(since they are given the privilege and responsibility of making choices aboutwhat and how they learn and demonstrate their learning) More importantly,interdisciplinary work can lead to more personal, relevant, and memorablelearning experiences for students and teachers – teachers get excited aboutstudents’ fresh ideas( solutions to protect environment) and new ways ofdemonstrating their understanding And students find learning English interstingand useful

Simultaneously, I have discovered that visually mind mapping ideas helpscommunicate with students by creating an engaging experience that is also morememorable Students find the process of visually recording ideas, whether fornote taking or creating presentations, to be more fun than traditional note taking

By mapping the ideas one has an opportunity to record new ideas where they fit

in terms context and content[3] This process enables students to organize theirnotes by categories and relationships while mapping

3 Using interdisciplinary knowledge and mind maps to teach unit English textbook 11, Educational Publishing House

UNIT 11: SOURCES OF ENERGY

Discuss advantages and disadvantages of sources of energy Work in group

1.- Collect relevant information, evidences and pictures to sources of energy

- Discuss advantages and disadvantages of sources of energy

- Use mind maps to perform your work

2 Prepare and give presentation to your class

Stage1: Collecting information, evidences related to the content of the lesson.

To collect relevant information , students will need access to some differentresources Typical resources for student include textbooks, newspapers andmagazines Perhaps the most helpful resources can be found on the Internet This makes students more excited about the topic and their study becomes moreactive Also, in this stage, I gave out many driving questions to my students

- What are the major forms of fossil fuels?

- How were fossil fuels formed?

- How are these fuels collected?

- What are the advantages and disadvantages of using fossil fuels?

- What are the environmental benefits of renewable energy?

- Why aren't some renewable resources widely accepted today?

Stage 2: Deploying the work

- Dividing groups

In the first place, I divided my class in to groups of 6 , and assigned tasks foreach group

Group 1,3 : Non- renewable energy

Group 2,4 : Renewable energy

Group 5,6 : Sources of energy

Each groups’ members should discuss on how to design, create, and presentproducts.Students could decide what products they will creat, what resourcesthey will use, and how they will structure their time For unit 11 - sources ofenergy , they will discover information from chemistry, geography and physics

Students worked in group of six or eight

Stage 3:Conducting the work

Groups were asked to perform their works by using mind maps as developingmind maps increases thinking, memory and learning skills It is now widelyaccepted that people have a better memory for images than for words Thecombination of words and images that are not simply decorative have beenfound to facilitate learning, understanding, remembering and performing.Images can help students select, structure, synthesize and integrate information

in a meaningful way

Students compiled information and used mind map to convey their ideas

During this stage, I served as coach, moving from group to group to guide thestudents' work As I did so, I asked myself the following coaching questions :

-Are the students attentive and working together cooperatively?

- Are the resources that students use geared to their comprehensive level ofunderstanding?

- Do any groups have trouble in expressing their ideas? / using vocabulary ?

And it it is essential that the teacher ask the students to attempt this activitywhen new problems are addressed.

Stage 4: Presenting the work.

Each group in my class showcased its picture to the class, explaining how theproduct was achieved as well as presenting the content In this stage, students of

each group viewed and could give questions and answers to other group Theteacher also observed how engaged they were in presenting their works

Start with a topic in which students are already highly knowledgeable abouthow other disciplines address the issue and have a clear sense of how tosynthesize and integrate This will build my confidence and allow me to moreeffectively gauge how students respond

Group 6: NON- RENEWABLE ENERGY

Most of our energy comes from non-renewable energy sources Coal,petroleum, natural gas, and uranium are examples of nonrenewable energysources Non-renewable energy sources are used to make electricity, to heat ourhomes, to move our cars, and to manufacture products

Non- renewable energy and its harmful effects

Fossil fuels are available from environment However, they will be exhausted in

a relatively short time Moreover, fossil fuels are called nonrenewable because

it takes millions years for them to appear after being used up Fossil fuels are

important but they are not good you know Unfortunately, when we use fossilfuels we also harm environment They cause nagative effects on theenvironment such as air pollution, acid rain, global warming, climate change

- A students from group 6 gave some questions to own his group:

Who can explain what global warming is ?

Global warming

- An another member of group 6 anwsered:

Burning fossil fuels releases the carbon stored in these fuels into the atmosphere

as carbon dioxide This is a type of Green gas Too many greenhouse gases inthe atmosphere act like a blanket around the Earth, making it feel warm like theair inside a greenhouse[5] It's called the greenhouse effect When the earthstarts to heat up, the global warming occurs

To explain global warming students used knowledge of chemistry andphysics.This educates students to limit using fossil fuels in daily lives

- Why does acid rain happen?

ACID RAIN

pollution produced by fossil fuels power stations, factories and cars containssulphur and nitrogen gases When they are released into the air these gases mixwith the rain inside the clouds to make acid rain

-What is this picture?

- It is photochemical smog happened in China It is a type of air pollution

- I don't understand what photochemical is ? Can you explain to me ?

- Of course,

PHOTOCHEMICAL SMOG

( Mù quang hóa )

VOC + solar + NO 2 + O2 O3 +NO + CO2 + H2.

( VOC : chất hữu cơ dễ bay hơi)

In very busy cities where there are a lot of cars and factories making smoke,there is often a brownish haze in the air called smog Photochemical smog is amixture of smoke and solar Smog can damage our lungs if we breathe it in

To explain global warming students used knowledge of chemistry and physics.This educates students to limit using fossil fuels in daily lives

Group 2: RENEWABLE ENERGY

Renewable energy sources include biomass, geothermal energy, hydropower,solar energy, nuclear power and wind energy They are called renewable energysources because they are naturally replenished regularly.Renewable energysources are used for electricity generation, for heat generation, and fortransportation fuels

In my opinion, the most potential energy is solar energy It is not only plentifuland unlimited but also safe and clean Also, it is easy to use because it usessimple technology So it is economical for developing countries.However, it hassome disadvantages In winter time it might not be plentiful in some areas Beside solar energy, wind power plays an important role in our lives Thisenergy is used to create electricity It is a clean and safe source of energy.