Interdisciplinary

Studies

A Collaborative Inquiry Project

Authored by:
Michelle Brosseau
Michael Carter
Hardeep Dhami

August 2018
 Interdisciplinary
Studies
What is “interdisciplinary studies”?
Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) is the integration of multiple disciplines of
study. Interdisciplinarity is “the capacity to integrate knowledge and
modes of thinking drawn from two or more disciplines to produce a
cognitive advancement… in ways that would have been unlikely
through a single disciplinary means” (Husni, 2016).
“Interdisciplinary learning brings together diverse disciplines in a
comprehensive manner, enabling students to extend their learning,
access higher-order thinking skills and develop meaningful
understandings of complex interactions amongst themselves, their
community, and the world around them” (Action on Curriculum, 2011).

In what ways can disciplines collaborate?

Disciplines can collaborate by creating rich performance tasks that
involve skills from multiple disciplines, just like in the real world. For
example, in the workplace, one may be required to perform
mathematical tasks using computer skills. If technology and math are
integrated in the classroom, these skills can be taught in context, using
non-contrived examples. Students may also benefit from working
together on a project across different grade levels (Jones, 2009). Husni
(2010) provides a thorough example:

“Consider the same example of time difference between New York and Beirut,
the learner is supposed to use the mathematical operation she/he built in math
class and the research process over the internet on any subject in the computer
class to the geography knowledge of longitudinal lines and their relation to time
settings. Each is considered as an activity from a different frame; the learner role is
to detect that this is the information she/he needs to integrate together to solve
the presented problem in the new situation.”
 Why promote
Collaboration between
disciplines?
“Engaging in the processes
Collaboration between
essential for
disciplines provides
interdisciplinary work
benefits for the student,
require specific cognitive
namely life-long learning
abilities and dispositions,
habits and personal growth
including the ability to
by working collaboratively
embrace complexities,
with other students (Jones,
Interdisciplinary work appreciate different points
2009).
helps develop the of view and being open to
skills today’s new ways of
employers want and understanding the world.”
need, and fosters the (Everett, 2016).
development of skills
needed for good
citizenship. (Everett, Employers indicated
2016) that they would like
universities to place
more emphasis on
critical thinking, oral
From taking part in an and written
interdisciplinary project, “Students communication and
indicated an improvement in a applied knowledge.
number of different cognitive (Everett, 2016)
abilities, including perspective
taking, integration, problem-
solving, abstract thinking, holistic Interdisciplinary teaching “lessons
thinking, critical and creative support the students’ practical
thinking and reflective thinking.” knowledge by making them aware
(Everett, 2016) of other relevant perspectives and
situations of application in class
and providing them with authentic
lessons that again influence the
students’ commitment and interest
in the matter.” (Spintzyk et al.,
2016).
How can collaboration be
promoted
between disciplines?
“Leadership is important at the
college and university levels if
interdisciplinarity is to thrive.”
(Townsend et al., 2015, p 658).

Four faculty
After classroom
members from
visits, the four
different
teachers gather
disciplines visit
to discuss their
each other’s
observations.
classrooms.

Teaching squares
Teachers reflect
No criticism is on their own
given; the focus teaching and
of discussion is implement
gathering ideas. strategies that
benefit their
students.

(Haave, 2018)

Take on a more ‘transdisciplinary’ view, which “means that

members have developed sufficient trust and mutual confidence
to transcend disciplinary boundaries and adopt a more holistic
blended integrated approach so that the disciplinary distinctions
become blurred, which may result in the creation of new
disciplines...”
(Townsend et al, 2015, p 660).
 interview
On the Importance of Collaboration
Michael Carter interviewed Aled Edwards to learn about
his work and the importance of collaboration in research.
The following is a summary of an interview
with Aled Edwards.

Aled Edwards is the CEO of the

Structural Genomics Consortium, Professor in the
Banting and Best Department of Medical Research at the
University of Toronto and a Visiting Professor of Chemical Biology in the Nuffield
Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford.
1) Would you be able to describe why research is focused on only a small
percent (10%) of the human genome?
(Aled was quick to open his laptop and show me this chart before explaining)

In 2003, the human genome was revealed, it was the first time the world discovered that
there were 20, 000 genes in a genome. The graph above shows kinase protein/genes.
Kinases are interesting enzymes they have an important role in cells that turn certain key
pathways on and off. What is interesting is that Kinases are heavily mutated in many
cancers. Drug companies have been targeting certain kinases as therapeutical options.
Despite knowing about over 500 types of Kinases, scientific research only focuses on a
small number or 10 percent of these kinase genes/proteins. The reason why this happens
is because in order to receive funding, there needs to be preliminary ideas, which leads us
to the similar research. Due to globalization, researchers in different countries read the
same published articles and come up with similar follow up questions, which they then use
to apply for funding with, so everyone ends up prioritizing the “hot” areas of research
publications and ignoring a large portion of the Kinases.
 interview
On the Importance of Collaboration
2) Would collaboration lead to more discoveries?
Yes, I believe that it would. For large scale efforts in research to succeed, there are a few
things that are needed. One of the most important factors is collaboration between disciplines
to avoid having talented researchers all duplicating their efforts. Also, interdisciplinary
collaboration could lead scientists to learn from a broad base of literature instead of reading
the exact same articles with the exact same findings that lead to similar follow up questions.

3) Do you believe the competitive nature of research hurts collaboration or collaborative inquiry
and what, if anything, can be done to change this?
There are many science laboratories here in Toronto that are too competitive which creates an
environment where each scientist is trying to discover something new in these “hot” areas of
publication. This happens when scientists all try to cover the same topic and do not try to
divide and conquer the kinases or work as a team. Also, we use the term getting “scooped” as
a term for when someone takes credit for your research, something that no one wants, so
collaborative inquiry is almost impossible across laboratories with the current structure we have
for funding and getting published.
I don’t believe there is anything that can be done about this, unless we change the peer-
review process and push for more open access publications. We could also assign a well-
funded task force that would be in charge of piloting new discoveries in science.

4) What do you mean in your article

“One of the most (http://healthydebate.ca/opinions/canadian-
biomedical-science-outstandingbut-also-
important factors is redundants) that Canadian biomedical science is
collaboration between redundant?
disciplines to avoid Well, let’s say you were conducting experiments on
say, “gene x” and other scientists were also trying to
having talented publish on “gene x” then there is a good chance
researchers all you or the other scientists will discover something
duplicating their efforts.” new about it with enough experimentation and
research. If you, for whatever reason stopped your
-Aled Edwards experiments, someone else would do it. This makes
your efforts redundant when you think about it in this
way.
 IDS Survey
How long (years) have
We surveyed you been teaching for?
teachers from a
diverse 1-29 years
background of
experience,
What grade level do
grade level and
you teach?
subject areas.
K - Post-Secondary
45
teachers
Biology
Careers
responded Chemistry
Civics
do you teach?

We wanted to Computers
Early Childhood Education
know if teachers
Earth Sciences
from different English
backgrounds ESL
experience IDS French
differently. Geography
German
Health Services
We asked. History
They Keyboarding
What subjects

answered. The results Math

Medical Office
tell us that these
Office Administration
teachers Psychology
experience many Reading Intervention
of the same Religion
challenges with Science
interdisciplinary Special Education
studies. Visual Arts
 Survey results
In order to obtain some
background information on
current use of IDS in both
K-12 schools and post-
secondary institutions, we
created a survey. We had 45
teachers participate from all
over North America to share
their insights, struggles,
hesitations, and/or successes
with this method.
More than half of the respondents
(64%) claim that teachers currently
collaborate ‘very well’ at their
respective schools, with an additional
11% saying ‘extremely well’. Three of
the 45 respondents (7%) claim that
teachers do not collaborate well.
Our respondents offered some
insights into why collaboration rates
might be so low in their work
environments:

“In my experience it takes a team about 3 years to find a collaboration

groove. In that time though, there is ALWAYS a member of the team who
quits, is transferred to another grade, or retires.”
“I have a hard time finding enough time to teach all of my curriculum in
a semester as it is!”
“When my school made interdisciplinary groups with math, English and
social studies it was great because we share (mostly) the same students.
But after awhile they stopped because it was a scheduling nightmare.”
“Unfortunately, not many think that math is a subject that is easy to
collaborate with, so we tend to work within our own department.”
 Survey results
From analyzing our open-ended
What do teachers responses, it can be concluded
feel are important that the following play a
factors for significant role in teachers’
implementing IDS in willingness to collaborate and
this study? integrate IDS into the curriculum:

o “At our school we use OFIP [Ontario Focused Intervention

Partnership] days to collaboratively plan curriculum maps in
School grade level teams. We aim to have an integrated inquiry for
each unit of study.”
Support & o “It takes time and a safe collaboration environment. School will
School provide support.”
o “Our school does have embedded PLC time each week and
Culture we are allowed to work with any teachers we choose, so we
naturally have a collaborative atmosphere should we choose
to take advantage of it.”

o “…having a leader to run collaboration would be great!”

o “I feel it’s tremendously useful, but doesn’t get enough support
Administrative at the administrative level.”
Support o “…we have been given quite a bit of support from our
administrators including summer days to collaborate and
plan.”

o “I don’t have much experience with interdisciplinary learning.

The hesitation though would be not getting sufficient time to
implement something like this.”
Teacher o ”My hesitation would be around assessment and negative
impact from nay-sayers.”
Buy-in
o “I love the idea, it’s teachers that are stuck in their own ways
that are the problem as well as admin teams make a huge
difference.”

o “Our district has provided some trainings this summer and in

past years on how to do this best, but not everyone takes it to
Training & heart.”
Professional o “My school board provides learning forward funds for each
school in which teachers can access release time to
Development collaborate in any capacity they wish with administration
approval.”
 Survey results
Co-teaching vs. Co-planning
It is interesting to note that teachers seem to value co-planning more
than co-teaching. 80% of our survey respondents say co-planning is
extremely or very important to them.

However, only 44.5% of respondents value co-teaching in their practice.

DeLuca, Bolden, & Chan (2017) had similar findings in their research. When
they researched the most commonly experienced activities in collaborative
inquiry, they found co-planning was a relatively common activity, while co-
teaching was not (DeLuca et al., 2017, p 70). Our findings could be due to
scheduling conflicts, time, availability of larger learning spaces to
accommodate more than one class for co-teaching, and willingness of staff
to co-teach/let go of control.
 Survey results
The Future of IDS
The majority of our survey respondents (40 of 45) rate
themselves as ‘very willing’ or ‘extremely willing’ to work with
other teachers in different subjects or disciplines than their
own, with only 1 respondent not likely to work with others. This
displays openness to integrating IDS and collaboration, if
teachers are provided with the resources necessary to
implement this method.
Moreover, 93.3% of the respondents believe it will be
extremely, very, or somewhat practical to use IDS techniques
in their work settings. 91.1% claim that they think IDS is
extremely or very useful for their students, with their current
knowledge of the method. These numbers keep us optimistic
of the future of IDS and collaboration.

Another teacher states, “I think these opportunities allow students to

see learning in a fresh new way, provides real life application of
knowledge while building towards a pathway. Because, real
pathways are interdisciplinary.”
Other comments from our respondents shows the optimism that
educators have in regards to the importance of IDS use in our schools:
“I think interdisciplinary learning is the way of the future. With the vast
amount of information and access to information, it is more important
than ever to make connections between various fields/subjects.”
“Students should be taught this way when possible so they can
genuinely learn the material at a deeper understanding.”
As we read reviews of IDS and collaboration, like those above, we can
conclude from our study that many educators see value and
significance in this method, regardless of the obstacles that come with
its implementation and application in classrooms. If we provide more
education, development, time, and support for teachers, we can be
hopeful that the benefits of IDS and collaboration can be realized in
all educational settings, and its implementation can one day be a
naturally occurring way of delivering curriculum.
 Survey results
I know it would be super useful to
show kids that learning shouldn’t
be compartmentalized. I just don’t
really know how. I try to just tie in
what I teach with other subjects as
I’m teaching. I’ve never full our
planned a unit or project with
another subject.
Reading intervention is
based on a lot of
Q
interdisciplinary learning
as we counsel and look
at each child and their
needs.
If I were to take the lead
and go to the
school/district and ask to
start some interdisciplinary
work, I would have TONS
of support. But it would be
teacher initiated, not top-
down initiated.
This was a “hot topic” and
highly practiced method of
teaching 20 years ago
when I first started teaching.
I loved it!! Students really
benefited from seeing how
topics are related and
learning really applied to
life. Then the “test everyone
and everything” era of
education hit and teachers
were forced to concentrate
only on their subject of
discipline. Let’s get back on
track for doing what is best
for students. Let’s remember
that we teach kids not
subjects in school.
summary:
Teachers are willing and enthusiastic about interdisciplinary teaching.
The major roadblocks are time, structure, training, administrative support
and the willingness of other teachers to collaborate.
The problem is time. Teachers don't
have enough time so collaborate a
lot with their own subject teachers let
alone with teachers from other
I have limited subjects. The English teacher in my
experience in this grade would use our science
area. With some textbook when teaching about
guidance, I would be reading textbooks, but that is about
willing to practice as much interdisciplinary stuff we did.
Interdisciplinary
learning. We have two
teachers in our school
who work with When my school made
students and teachers interdisciplinary groups with
on S.T.E.M. projects. math, English and social
studies it was great because
we share (mostly) the same
students. But after awhile they
stopped because it was a
scheduling nightmare.
Describe your experiences
with Interdisciplinary
learning as either a
I do see value in
teacher or a learner. Do
?
this, although I have
you have any hesitations a hard time finding
with this method? What enough time to
levels of support does your teach all of my
curriculum in a
school provide? Are there semester as it is!
projects at your school that
are interdisciplinary?
I think interdisciplinary
learning is the way of
the future. With the vast
amount of information
and access to
Our district/school is 100%
information, it is more
supportive of *department*
important than ever to
collaboration and learning.
make connections
It is the foundation of
between various
collaboration where we live.
fields/subjects. As much
But we NEVER, EVER get far
as the school
enough to do
encourages this, there
interdisciplinary
are no formal structure
collaboration. And that is
set up to make this
because of high turnover
rates. happen.
Planning Considerations (Drake, Reid & Kolohan)

Higher order
Aim to
incorporate
higher-order
Drake, Reid and Kolohan
thinking skills recommend that teachers
into the rich
Create performance
who wish to integrate
task curricula should ask
Analyze themselves these three
questions:

thinking skills
Apply What do we want the
students to know?
Understand
Factual knowledge
Conceptual knowledge
Procedural Knowledge
Remember
Metacognitive Knowledge

What should the students

be able to do?
Consider 21st century skills:
Creativity, innovation,
entrepreneurship, critical
thinking, collaboration,
communication, computer &
digital technology skills
Align your performance
tasks and lessons to
support the what falls What do we want our
under the Know-Do-Be
Umbrella. students to be?
Respectful, creative,
informed citizens that
contribute to the community
 Planning Considerations
Consider starting
interdisciplinary
collaboration on a rich
assessment task for
students.
Brainstorm possible
activities using a
graphic organizer
Create a rich assessment
task that acts as a
culminating activity aligned
with the Know-Do-Be and
curriculum expectations.
Organize daily instruction.
Checklist for a
rich performance assessment task
Does it teach the
Know-Do-Be?
Is it doable?
Is it engaging & fun?
Is inquiry embedded in the
task?
Does it require higher-order
thinking skills?
(Drake & Reid)
Choose a task that
supports shared
big ideas.
For example, if
collaborating between
Math and Science,
consider focusing on the
shared big ideas of
cause and effect, or
order, as opposed to
trying to connect
probability to
organisms.
(Drake, Reid & Kolohan)
Is it grounded in a
real-world scenario?
Does it allow for diverse
approaches?
Does it allow for student
choice?
Does it involve an
audience?
Does it value process as well
as product?
 Rich, interdisciplinary
Performance Task Example

Question:
In what ways can disciplines 
collaborate?

ANSWER: Teachers from different disciplines 
can create interdisciplinary projects 
and share them to inspire other 
teachers to do the same.  

In our interview with respected scientist, Aled Edwards, he

mentions what holds scientific research back is the funding
system that does not allow for scientists of different disciplines
to share their work. Aled believes in having open access to
publications so scientific discoveries can progress more
efficiently (Edwards, 2015). Similarly, teachers should be open
to sharing their creative interdisciplinary work to inspire
others to collaborate across disciplines as well.

Upcoming are three examples

of interdisciplinary projects and
the different ways in which they
have been shared.
The environmental school
Project, Maple Ridge B.C.
The Environmental School Project uses a variety of learning
theories to engage students. This project has students explore
and learn from their environment and community outside of
the classroom. The Environmental School Project believes in
having students spend “extensive time immersed in the
outdoors, dialoguing with a diversity of people connected to
these places” (https://hollyhocklife.org/place-based-
imaginative-and-ecological-education-in-maple-ridge-bc/,
2013). Students also take what they learn from the
environment and apply it to different parts of the curriculum
subjects such as language arts, and sciences
(http://es.sd42.ca/principles-and-values/).

The great thing about this project is that it is easily shared to

inspire others. A quick snippet of the program is offered using
Vimeo, a video sharing platform that is similar to YouTube
(https://vimeo.com/27469337). For more information about
this program, a website was setup that displays
interdisciplinary learning activities at different grade levels as
well as other pedagogies that the program uses to engage
learners (http://es.sd42.ca/principles-and-values/).
Community Service Project
Hardeep’s Example
One of the more experienced teachers who participated in
our survey responded to our open-ended question about
interdisciplinary experience like this,

“This (interdisciplinary learning) was a “hot topic” and highly

practiced method of teaching 20 years ago when I first
started teaching. I loved it!! Students really benefited from
seeing how topics are related and learning really applied to
life. Then the “test everyone and everything” era of
education hit and teachers were forced to concentrate only
on their subject of discipline. Let’s get back on track for doing
what is best for students. Let’s remember that we teach kids
not subjects in school.”

Hardeep used the following example as an interdisciplinary

service project that she created and used to replace final
exams in Grade 8 last year.

She mixed in Language Arts (writing reflections, proposals,

etc.), Tech.Ed/ Digital Arts, Math (for budgeting, calculations
with profits, etc.), and Health and Career Ed.

The following pages show the rich performance task Hardeep

used to engage her Grade 8 students in interdisciplinary
learning.
COMMUNITY SERVICE Project                                          Name:   
 
 
TASK: Create, organize, and execute a Community Service Project.  

(you may continue your Community Needs Project from Career Education)*  
 
STEP #1: PROPOSAL (Google Doc/Slides)  
 Project must address a Community Need  
 Must have an achievable goal for the allotted time (3 weeks)  
 Criteria:  
 Goal must include problem-solving, decision-making, and research  
 Must outline HOW you are going to accomplish your goal, WHY you are pursuing that goal, and 
WHAT your service project entails  
 Each HOW, WHY, and WHAT require a minimum of ½ page paragraph supported by research 
(12 size font, Times New Roman)  
 
STEP #2: PROJECT ADVERTISEMENT   
 Promote your project using at least one of the following:  
 Commercial (live or recorded)  
 Website  
 Poster(s)/Print Ad  
 Create a project NAME, LOGO, and SLOGAN  
 Complete at least one promotional item with the technology/digital arts teacher using your name, logo, 
and/or slogan, such as a:  
 Decal, sticker, magnet, business card, coaster, etc.  
 Criteria:  
 Must be informative, engaging, and persuasive  
 You will present your advertisement in class*  
 
STEP #3: ACTION PLAN  
 Detail how you plan to carry out your project and achieve your goal  A hand out will be provided in 
which you must:  
 Breifly describe your project  
 What will you need? Supplies? How will you get what you need? (be specific)    When 
will your project take place?  
 Task Assignment: Who will do what? When? How long will/did it take?  
 Phone calls, announcements, site visit(s), getting supplies, etc.  
 Criteria:  
 Log and complete an action plan outline every week  

STEP #4: COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT  

 Between May 28-June 17, you will need to make preparations to do and carry out your  
Action Plan to effectively complete the Reflective Journals and Final Presentation  
  Make sure to take photos or video and take notes to include in your presentation  
 
STEP #5: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL  
 Must be done every week (3 entries total)  
 Each journal entry must address the following COMPONENTS:  
 What did you do?  
 How did it go?  
 What were your results?  
 Did you have to make any changes?  
 Did you interact with anyone in the community? Describe them.    What would you do 
differently? And why?  
 Criteria:  
 Formal Reflections will be due at the end of the block on:  
 Friday June 1st  
 Thursday June 7th  
 Friday June 15th  
 What is a Formal Reflection?  
 For your convenience, a planning sheet will be provided every Monday to assist you in 
getting your ideas in order for when you write your formal reflection.  
 Written in proper paragraph format.  
 Each component is its own paragraph, using proper sentence structure and 
spelling/grammar conventions.   
 Addresses every component listed above.  
 Explain your thoughts in detail.  
 Typed, or hand written neatly in PEN (no pencil).   
 This is a good copy.   
STEP #6: PRESENTATION  
 Create a 8-10 minute presentation to present to the class. This can be done in a variety of ways 
including:  
 Slide Show w/narration  
 Poster Board  
 PPT Presentation  
 Address the following in your presentation:  
 What does service mean to you after completing the project?  
 Would you do another project? What would it be?  
 How was your project received by others?  
 How effective were you about your proposal?  
 What worked well with your project?  
 What were your results?  
 Criteria:  
 Must include photos or video, and informative details of your preparation and execution of your 
project  
 Must display input from ALL group members during both the project’s development and the final 
presentation  
 “Mathletes” Project
Math + Physical Education + Technology
This is an example of an interdisciplinary project that could
work at the high school level. One of the teacher respondents
of our interdisciplinary survey had this to say about math and
interdisciplinary learning,

“Our school does have embedded PLC time each week and
we are allowed to work with any teachers we choose, so we
naturally have a collaborative atmosphere should we choose
to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, not many think that
math is a subject that is easy to collaborate with, so we tend
to work within our own department.”

This motivated our group to take on the challenge of creating

an on-going project that would assess students’ use of math,
physical education, science, and Microsoft Excel skills to
create a workout plan.
The next pages show what that project would look like,
complete with instructions and an instructional video on how
to get started.
Personal Fitness for a “Mathlete”: 
Instructions: 
Over the next two months, you will design and test a fitness program that you will create as a personal trainer.  
Create a program that works for you.  It can range in intensity from level 1 (very light exercise) to level 10 (training 
for an aspiring professional athlete).  Start designing your workout program with a hypothesis that can be tested.  
For example, a combination of strength training, movement, and calisthenics is more effective than completing 
these types of workouts separately.  Explain how you will measure your hypothesis, do you need a control group 
who does not complete the workout to test your hypothesis, or do you need to test your program on a few 
people varying in age (such as your parents/guardians, or friends)?  You will document your observations and 
conclude whether your hypothesis was correct.  Once you have designed your workout, you will need to test it on 
three or four of your peers in your physical education class.  They will then rate how intense it was on scale of 1‐
10.  You will use this rating as an estimation on how many calories were burned.  Download the report outline and 
Excel tracking sheet below, and check out the video link below to see how to use the Excel tracking sheet.   

You will need the following resources to get started on this project: 

 Exercise Formulas and definitions (page 2) 
 Report outline (Page 3) 
 You will use this online template to start your own Excel tracking sheet: 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EIAhJQ0u8rdj5H1TeV9avMRhymA0ZdAZrz10ybiVGCk/edit#gid
=1251986310  
 For a guide on how to populate your worksheet, check out this video: 
Feel free to download and change the formatting to suit your personal brand as a trainer.  Replace the text 
“Science group” in cell A1 with your own personal trainer company name (you can also create a logo if you wish).   

 
   
Definitions and Formulas: 
Body Mass Index (BMI) estimates human body fat based on the individual's weight and height. A BMI from 18.5 
to 24.9 is considered normal. 
 
BMI = 703*w/h2 
w = weight (in pounds) 
 h = height (in inches) 
 
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the daily amount of energy (in calories) expended at a specified activity level.  
 
BMR (Men) = 6.23w + 12.7h ‐ 6.76a + 66 
BMR (Women) = 4.338w + 4.698h ‐ 4.68a + 655 
w = weight (in pounds) 
h = height (in inches) 
a = age (in years) 
 
Calories Burned measures the amount of calories burned during an exercise. In order to lose 1 kg of body fat 
(3500 kCal) per week you must expend 500 cal/day. 
 
"METS” = metabolic equivalents of the exercise 
w = weight (in pounds) 
t = time (in minutes)" 
 
At Rest BMR assumes no activity whatsoever, while Active BMR assumes the following levels of activity: 
Sedentary, Light, Moderate, High, or Extreme. 
 
Active BMR = Activity Factor x BMR 
Activity Factor = a multiplier based on the individual exercise activity 
 
Metabolic Equivalents (METS) are multiples of the resting metabolic rate due to exercise, where 1 MET = 3.5 
cal/kg of body weight. 
 
(Metabolic Equivalents) are multiples of the resting metabolic rate due to exercise, where 1 MET = 3.5 cal/kg of 
body weight. 
 
(Temertzoglou, 2008) 
 

 
Report Outline:  
 

Introduction: 

 Include your rationale for creating your type of exercise program 
 Include a testable hypothesis 
Materials and Methods: 

 Explain how your workout will be completed and what type of equipment you will need 
Results: 

 Include personal statistics of you and your clients (if you choose to test your workout program 
on others) at the beginning and the end to compare 
 Maintain a weekly journal on your progress 
 Show completed work on your Excel tracking sheet.  All formulas included 
 State whether your hypothesis was correct/incorrect  
Discussion: 

 Describe your interpretations of the findings.  For example, did you learn something new or 
surprising, or could there be something wrong with how BMI is calculated based on what you 
observed? 
Conclusion:  

 Sum up your findings/observations 
 Describe in anything could be improved with your program or if additional research is required 
References:  

  Cite any sources you used to conduct your research using APA style.   

We decided to share the teaching component of this project on YouTube publicly, which would allow 
other teachers to view it and create their own interdisciplinary project.  Teachers could also follow the 
links in the description part of the video to download any of the resources shown above.   

 
 “Mathletes” Project
Math + Physical Education + Technology
To get a better understanding of the Mathletes Projects,
watch the video below, or access via link:
https://youtu.be/cCVouPYVVIg
 Simple Solutions
to Common Roadblocks

time
As identified by Aled Edwards in his interview
about the importance of collaboration is it
reduces the duplication of each individual’s
efforts. Invest them time in collaborating in
order to reap the time savings later.

Our survey results show that, in

support
general, other teachers and
administration support collaboration
across the different disciplines. Begin
by asking your colleagues and
administration for their support,
rather than assuming you do not
have their support.

structure
If venturing into Collaborative Inquiry
across disciplines for the first time, utilize
the Collaborative Inquiry: A Facilitator’s
Guide by Jennifer Donohoo. This guide
provides a step-by-step method to
structure your interdisciplinary steps
towards collaboration.
 References
Action on Curriculum, Education Program Standards and Assessment, Sept. 2011, Alberta
Education.
DeLuca, C., Bolden, B., & Chan, J. (2017). Systemic professional learning through
collaborative inquiry: Examining teachers' perspectives. Teaching and Teacher Education,
67, 67-78.
Drake & Reid. (2010, September) Integrated Curriculum. Ontario Ministry of Education, The
Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat. Retrieved from
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WW_Integrated_Curricul
um.pdf
Drake, Reid & Kolohan. Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment. Oxford
University Press, 2014. Print.
Edwards, A. (2011). Too Many Roads Not Taken. Nature, 163-165.
Edwards, A. (2015, March 9). Canadian biomedical science is outstanding…but also
redundant? Retrieved from Healthy Debate: http://healthydebate.ca/opinions/canadian-
biomedical-science-outstandingbut-also-redundant
Environmental School Project in Maple Ridge. (2017). Retrieved from http://es.sd42.ca/
Everett, M.C. (2016). Interdisciplinary Studies: A Site for Bridging the Skills Divide. The Journal of
Effective Teaching, 16(2), 20-31.
Haave, Neil. (2018, July 31). Teaching Squares Bring Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. Retrieved
from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/faculty-development/teaching-squares-cross-
disciplinary-perspectives/
Husni, N.M. & El Rouadi, N. (2016). Interdisciplinary Curriculum Empowers Cognitive
Advancement to Solve Real Life Problems. Journal of Education and Learning, 5(4), 34-43.
Jones, C. (2009). Interdisciplinary Approach: Advantages, Disadvantages, and the Future
Benefits of Interdisciplinary Studies.
Spintzyk, K., Strehlke, F., Ohlberger, S., Gröben, B., & Wegner, C. (2016). An Empirical Study
Investigating Interdisciplinary Teaching of Biology and Physical Education. Science Educator,
25(1), 35-43.
Temertzoglou, T. (2008). Exercise Science: An Introduction to Health and Physical Education.
Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
Townsend, T., Pisapia, J., Razzaq, J. (2015). Fostering interdisciplinary research in universities: a
case study of leadership, alignment and support. Studies in Higher Education, 40(4), 658-675.

Clipart © Glitter Meets Glue Designs