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Exploration and Practice of Interdisciplinary Thematic Learning Based on the C-POTE Model
——Taking “Exploring Space” in Elementary School Mathematics as an Example
Abstract:Setting up interdisciplinary thematic learning is an innovative measure taken by the new round of curriculum reform in compulsory education to reshape the quality structure of new era talents. Its core involves four aspects: achieving educational goals, integrating subject content, crossing boundaries in teaching practice, and expressing competency evaluation. This study is based on the “C-POTE” model, analyzing the systematic design of interdisciplinary thematic learning, focusing on concept groups, using problem chains as growth points, targeting goal layers, emphasizing task clusters, and breaking through with evidence sets. It provides a practical exploration of interdisciplinary thematic learning in elementary school mathematics with the theme of “Exploring Space”.
Keywords: Interdisciplinary Thematic Learning; C-POTE Model; Elementary School Mathematics; Practice
The “Compulsory Education Curriculum Plan and Curriculum Standards (2022 Edition)” (hereinafter referred to as the new curriculum standards) introduces new concepts and terminology. The new plan emphasizes that “each subject should design interdisciplinary thematic learning for no less than 10% of class hours,” pointing out new directions and requirements for current curriculum and teaching reform. In the context of the new curriculum reform, the connotation of interdisciplinary thematic learning refers to achieving interdisciplinary learning through thematic study, aimed at cultivating students’ comprehensive core competencies. Currently, interdisciplinary thematic learning faces issues such as knowledge patchwork and disorder, which hinder the effective enhancement of core competencies. The C-POTE model serves as the theoretical support for interdisciplinary thematic learning, starting from core themes, driven by problems, guided by clear goals, systematically unfolding learning activities around task clusters, and scientifically assessing feedback on interdisciplinary thematic learning through concept groups, problem chains, objective layers, task clusters, and evidence sets. Among them, the concept group is a collection of important subjects and interdisciplinary big concepts selected based on interdisciplinary themes, helping to break down subject barriers and achieve integration; the problem chain serves as a bridge for concept refinement, aiding students in concretely understanding knowledge; the objective layer consists of three levels of goals based on core competencies: “basic knowledge—subject thinking—higher-order thinking,” helping clarify and implement learning objectives; the task cluster is the organization and presentation method of course content, aiding in the coherence and transferability of interdisciplinary content; the evidence set is the performance evaluation within the entire teaching structure, assisting teachers in scientific assessment and mutual reflection between teachers and students. This study selects the third-grade mathematics textbook from the People’s Education Press, taking the theme of “Exploring Space” to construct a logical framework for interdisciplinary thematic learning in mathematics based on the C-POTE model, analyzing the core connotation of interdisciplinary thematic learning, its design dimensions, and systematically discussing the practical paths of interdisciplinary thematic learning in mathematics.
1. Core Connotation of Interdisciplinary Thematic Learning Based on the C-POTE Model
Interdisciplinary thematic learning advocates using the integration of knowledge from various subjects as a starting point, aiming to improve students’ comprehensive quality, with both meaningful load and value orientation. The C-POTE model features clear objectives, rich tasks, and a focus on process evaluation, highlighting the “human-centered” and “hierarchical” nature of goals, the “relevance” and “transferability” of content, the “situational” and “inquisitive” nature of processes, and the “process-oriented” and “diversified” nature of evaluation in interdisciplinary thematic learning.
(1) Achieving Educational Goals: Human-Centered and Hierarchical
The C-POTE model is guided by core competencies, organizing content, problem settings, goal establishment, task design, and evaluation forms to help teachers clarify the questions of “what to teach and how to teach” in interdisciplinary thematic teaching, achieving the “human-centered” and “hierarchical” nature of educational goals.
The C-POTE model leads the entire teaching process with interdisciplinary big concepts, emphasizing continuous inquiry into problems based on real situations, organizing learning activities centered on students, and implementing the cultivation of core competencies. Interdisciplinary themes emphasize conducting relevant subject teaching around a specific research theme based on students’ foundations, experiences, and interests. Under this model, the systematic structure provides ideas for teachers’ interdisciplinary themes, refining subject big concepts as a focus, and through the design of task clusters and evidence sets, strengthening the connection between students and real-life practices, opening the classroom to real life, developing critical thinking, practical abilities, and higher-order competencies through collaborative construction, ultimately achieving “becoming an adult.” At the same time, breaking down core competencies into measurable objectives and informing students in advance drives them to deeply focus on core knowledge and big concepts.
(2) Integration of Subject Content: Relevance and Transferability
Students face various complex problems in real life, requiring them to flexibly apply knowledge and methods from different subjects to solve them. Interdisciplinary thematic learning under the C-POTE model provides dimensions for solving problems, with the refinement of concept groups achieving the “content relevance” and “knowledge transfer” of interdisciplinary thematic learning.
The highly generalizable and encompassing characteristics of the C-POTE model compensate for the “platter-style” defects in interdisciplinary thematic practice. Interdisciplinary thematic learning under this model emphasizes achieving clustering integration of knowledge with big concepts as the main line, starting from factual content and combining it with students’ existing knowledge experiences to form primary subject big concepts, then exploring the inherent logical connections with other subjects to form interdisciplinary big concepts, ultimately forming concept groups, and designing interdisciplinary themes based on the big concepts and real-life problems. In this process, teachers conduct clustering design based on the learned content, viewing factual knowledge from a conceptual perspective, with the development of competencies as the main line, building the relevance of knowledge, and forming a meaningful cognitive network. Additionally, this model advocates authentic learning, cultivating students’ knowledge transfer and innovation abilities through interdisciplinary thematic design, achieving creative solutions to problems.
(3) Crossing Boundaries in Teaching Practice: Situational and Inquisitive
Interdisciplinary composite tasks can easily lead to cognitive obstacles for students, while the C-POTE model, with rich sensory stimulation and the presentation of real problems, helps students understand and cognitively process large tasks, achieving the “situationality of knowledge” and “inquisitiveness of processes” in interdisciplinary thematic learning.
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