1.
INTRODUCTION
Interdisciplinary
teaching is a way of teaching that intentionally integrates methodologies and
language from more than one discipline for examining a central theme, issue,
problem, topic, or experience (Baishya, 2014). Unlike a discipline-field
oriented understanding of knowledge, interdisciplinarity emphasizes connections
rather than distinctions (Meeth, 1978). According to (Crowell & Sam, 1989),
isolated knowledge, abilities, objectives, assessments, and assumptions about
educational environments are insufficient for producing new understandings. The
human brain processes information in parallel and has an inclination to view
things as a totality. At this point, the interdisciplinary approach, which
combines different disciplines by providing links between them, creates a sense
of wholeness.
The
teaching impacts of a new approach are typically determined by the attitudes of
the teachers toward it (Durlak, 1998). For example, students' attitudes would
be influenced by the attitudes of teachers, whether they were favorable or
negative (Denessen et al., 2015). Based on the impact of teachers' attitudes on
teaching and learning, we believe that it is beneficial to understand teachers'
attitudes toward interdisciplinary teaching. However, there is a paucity of
research on how elementary school teachers view interdisciplinary teaching and
what factors may predict their attitudes toward interdisciplinary teaching.
Therefore, this study focuses on Chinese elementary school teachers' attitudes
toward interdisciplinary teaching and learning and the factors that influence
them. Specifically, we seek to answer the following research questions:
(1) What are the
attitudes of primary school teachers towards interdisciplinary teaching?
(2)What personal
factors influence primary school teachers’ attitudes towards interdisciplinary
teaching?
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
AND RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
2.1 Interdisciplinary
teaching
Interdisciplinary
teaching is a style of teaching that organizes the contents under a common,
abstract concept (Lynn, 2008).At this point, the interdisciplinary approach
integrates different disciplines by establishing connections between them.
Interdisciplinary teaching is characterized by a lack of emphasis on
disciplinary boundaries, but on connections. It helps students to develop
different competencies and to experience a different sense of motivation and
relevance (Lindvig & Ulriksen, 2019).
Interdisciplinary teaching benefits both
students and teachers. For students, this approach create links among
disciplines, contribute to the development of a better understanding of
disciplinary logics, and promote the transfer of knowledge and skills among
disciplines (Hardré et al., 2013) .For teachers, interdisciplinary teaching
allows teachers to be aware of what is happening in other disciplines and
provide opportunities for teachers to increase their knowledge and expertise,
especially in disciplines that they do not teach. Interdisciplinary teaching
allows teachers to create and understand connections among disciplines (Kate et
al., 2019)
2.2 Teachers’
attitudes
Because
we often use the word "attitude" in our daily lives, almost everyone
knows its meaning. However, researchers have different definitions of it. One
study characterized attitudes as feelings related to an object or activity,
referred to as the affective component, and separated them from beliefs, which
fall under the cognitive component (Koballa, 1988). Another study argued that
attitudes are a structure of multiple dimensions and subcomponents. Individual
assessments of these subcomponents contribute to varying degrees to the
understanding of overall attitudes (Ajzen, 2001). In this paper, the word
“attitudes” refers to a comprehensive evaluation of an object or activity,
including both affective and cognitive aspects. Some researches have classified
attitudes into two categories. One of these is a generic attitude, which refers
to items or groups in a broad sense (e.g., interdisciplinary). The other is an
attitude towards behavior, which describes how one does a particular activity
to a target (e.g., interdisciplinary teaching). General mentalities don't
typically precisely anticipate explicit ways of behaving, while similar ways of
behaving can be predicted well from proportions of mentalities toward ways of
behaving (Albarracin et al., 2005). Consequently, this paper estimates
attitudes towards explicit ways of behaving.
Specifically, a dimension of attitude toward
science teaching (DAS) comprising three dimensions—cognitive beliefs, affective
states, and perceived control—was developed and verified by van Aalderen-Smeets
et al. (2012). Cognitive beliefs include perceived relevance, perceived
difficulty and gender beliefs. Affective states are the positive and negative emotions,
including enjoyment and anxiety that teachers experience during the teaching
process. Perceived control refers to teachers' sense of control over their
teaching, including self-efficacy and context dependency. The attitude portion
of the theoretical framework in this paper was guided by DAS.
2.3 Personal factors
that affect teachers’ attitudes
The
first characteristic is the gender of the teachers, but research on how gender
affects teachers' attitudes has shown conflicting results. One study (Andersen;
Anderson et al., 1988) found that female teachers reported higher levels of
self-efficacy than male teachers. Another study (Eccles, 1994) found the
opposite. Besides, other researchers found no differences at all in teacher
self-efficacy by gender (Lee et al., 1991).
The second factor is the educational
background of the teachers. Prior to 1999, the majority of Chinese elementary
teachers were either middle school graduates completing three or five years of
preservice training, or they had graduated from teacher college. A four-year
undergraduate program in education was launched after 1999. In China nowadays,
the majority of elementary school teachers hold bachelor's degrees and have
completed four years of preservice training after graduating from high school(孙德芳,
2020). Currently, there
are two distinct graduate programs in teacher education: a professional
master's program lasting two years, or a three-year academic master's degree.
This background may lead to different attitudes because teaching methods vary
depending on the educational level (Jarski et al., 1990) . For instance,
research has shown that teachers with master's degrees had higher levels of
teacher self-efficacy than teachers with bachelor's degrees (Hoover-Dempsey et
al., 1987).
The third characteristics relates to a
teacher's teaching experiences, including the years of teaching and the
subjects they taught. According to a study, there were less significant
age-based disparities in teachers' opinions about the usage of geospatial
technology (Avdić et al., 2020). However, according to the results of the
other study, teachers' self-efficacy rose during their formative years and into
their middle careers but fell at the end (Klassen & Chiu, 2010; M, 2010).
Moreover, teacher attitudes may be related to their disciplines, as teaching
tasks and situations are substantially formed by the nature of the subjects the
teacher taught (Chen & Yeung, 2015). One study showed that science teachers
scored lower on attitudes toward interdisciplinary teaching and learning and
had greater resistance to change than math teachers (Al Salami et al., 2015).
The last characteristic taken into account is
teachers’ experience in interdisciplinary teaching. A limited number of
research (e.g., Powell-Moman and Brown-Schchild 2011a, b; Ross and Bruce 2007)
looked into this relationship and found that teachers' self-efficacy rises when
they actively engage in high-quality professional development. Furthermore,
interdisciplinary teaching is frequently implemented through teamwork. In such
circumstances, teachers have the opportunity to observe their colleagues and
acquire firsthand experience. Their attitudes may be influenced by other
colleagues when they work together.
2.4 Framework
This
study focuses on elementary school teachers' attitudes toward interdisciplinary
teaching in China and their influence factors. Figure 1 presents the
theoretical framework this study. In the dimension of attitude, we used the DAS
framework (van Aalderen‐Smeets et al., 2011). The framework includes
three dimensions: cognitive beliefs, affective states, and perceived control.
Moreover, the theoretical framework of influence factors is divided into two
groups: personal characteristics and the context of the school. Personal
characteristics consist of gender, educational level, teaching experience,
training, and professional development.
5 DISCUSSION
The
purpose of this study was to explore Chinese elementary school teachers'
attitudes toward interdisciplinary teaching and to explore the personal factors
that influence their attitudes. To this end, a questionnaire survey was used to
conduct a quantitative study of Chinese elementary school teachers' attitudes
toward interdisciplinary teaching and the factors influencing them. The
research questions leading to the findings of this study are discussed in the
following sections.
5.1
What are the attitudes of primary school teachers towards interdisciplinary
teaching?
Research
question one investigated teachers' attitudes towards interdisciplinary
teaching in different contexts. The findings showed that Chinese elementary
school teachers had relatively positive attitudes toward interdisciplinary
teaching and that attitudes varied by education level, subject taught, and
school type. However, there were no significant differences between genders,
years of teaching experience or number of subjects taught.
In terms of educational level, elementary
school teachers with undergraduate degrees had the most positive attitudes
toward interdisciplinary teaching, while elementary school teachers with
graduate degrees were the least motivated. This is the opposite of what we had
expected at the beginning. We believe that there are several reasons for this
situation: firstly, many Chinese elementary school teachers have graduated with
an undergraduate degree in primary education. Undergraduate primary education
studies are more integrated, that is, every subject is learned.
Interdisciplinary teaching highlights the characteristics of integration, which
fits with the characteristics of the teaching ability of elementary school
teachers of all subjects. Second, there is an increasing number of students who
are interprofessionals in China. These students who cross the examination to
education have not learned professional knowledge systematically. This also
leads to their low motivation for interdisciplinary teaching.
About the type of school, teachers in public
elementary school are more motivated to interdisciplinary teaching. This is
understandable. Unlike the elite education practiced in private schools in
developed Western countries, public schools in China are the majority, and the
best teachers and principals are concentrated in public schools, not private
schools (华伟,
2016). This is because China has a large population and is still in the primary
stage of socialism, with many poor people, few resources, and large class sizes.
Public primary and secondary schools are still unable to meet the enrollment
needs of all children, especially in rural and backward areas. Therefore, the
government often adopts a policy of encouraging the establishment of private
primary and secondary schools or a laissez-faire policy to make up for the
shortage of public schools. As a result, most of the students in China who
attend private elementary school do so because they are unable to enroll in
public elementary school.
Teachers who teach the main subject have a
more positive attitude than those who teach the secondary subject. This is
because main subject teachers have more instructional time, providing them with
the time to teach across disciplines. Meanwhile, teachers who taught maths were
the most motivated because this subject usually guides students to solve
problems in real-life situations. For example, to increase students' interest
in and understanding of mathematics, teachers often encourage students to
connect mathematics to their experiences in the real world(Quintero, 2004), ask
questions, and solve mathematical problems through group discussions(Bevan
& Capraro, 2021). Contrary to our predictions, teachers who taught science
were the least motivated by attitudes toward interdisciplinary teaching as well
as the number of subjects taught was not related to teachers' attitudes toward
interdisciplinary teaching. We initially expected teachers who taught more than
two subjects to have more positive attitudes because the use of interdisciplinary
teaching requires combining knowledge and methods from different subjects. In
addition, the low motivation of science teachers may be related to the reality
that science education is not emphasized in Chinese elementary school and the
amount of science class time is low.
5.2
What personal factors influence primary school teachers’ attitudes towards
interdisciplinary teaching?
Research
question two was to explore the factors that influence Chinese elementary
school teachers' attitudes toward interdisciplinary teaching. The results of
the analysis of variance found that the level of education, type of school,
differences in the subjects taught, and training all had an impact on teachers'
attitudes toward interdisciplinary teaching. It is not the case that the higher
the education level, the more positive teachers' attitudes towards
interdisciplinary teaching. Our study found that teachers with a bachelor's
degree were the most positive about interdisciplinary teaching. Also, the
nature of the school affects teachers' attitudes toward interdisciplinary
teaching, with teachers in public schools being more positive. In addition, the
subject matter taught is also an influential factor. Main subject teachers in
elementary school are more motivated towards interdisciplinary teaching,
especially in math. This is because the main subject teachers have more
adequate time for interdisciplinary teaching. Appleton and Kindt (1999) found
that in the absence of sufficient instructional time, teachers lacked confidence
and were less likely to put extra effort. Finally, training also has an effect
on teachers' attitudes toward interdisciplinary teaching, a finding that is
consistent with previous research.
6
Limitations
We
recognize that our study has some limitations. In the first place, what we did
was a cross-sectional study and we could only gather information about the
present moment. This approach has no causal inference and cannot explain
change. Another limitation is in the area of factors influencing teachers'
attitudes toward interdisciplinary teaching. The study showed that personal
characteristics were important factors influencing teachers' attitudes.
However, other factors were also found to influence their attitudes. For
example, students' lack of motivation to learn decreases teachers' enthusiasm
to teach (Kelani & Gado, 2018). More
factors could be considered in future studies to provide a more comprehensive
explanation of changes in teachers' attitudes. Finally, only questionnaires
were administered to elementary school teachers, and more in-depth interviews
were not conducted. The questionnaire was only a self-assessment by the
respondents, which did not allow for an in-depth understanding of what the
respondents really thought. The follow-up study will combine quantitative data
with qualitative research.
Ethics
declarations
Conflict
of interest
The
authors have not disclosed any competing interests.
Data
availability
The data
generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from
the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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