Integração curricular: a essência de uma escola democrática [Curriculum integration: the essence of a democratic school]

James A. Beane

View article (In Portuguese)

Abstract

This article starts from the belief that the discipline approach, used to initiate young people in the academic world of universities, is reductive in terms of wider purposes as, for example, experiencing democracy. It analyzes the possibilities of a curriculum that goes beyond the discipline structure. It defends the idea of using an integrated curricular approach, emphasizing thematic units centered in questions, collaboratively planned by teachers and students in a democratic environment, centered in knowledge from several sources. It demonstrates that students that use an integrated approach have similar or superior performance in standardized tests when compared to students who still use the traditional discipline approach. It concludes that the use of an integrated approach would have only benefits – and no harm – to academic integrity.