Edward Van Embden
CTE Stage IV
Inst. Nancy Wheeler Driscoll
May 22, 2020
CTE Creativity Integration
The Process of Sequencing - A Picture Card Game is a resource that can be found at the
following address: https://eduref.org/lessons/interdisciplinary/int0059. The picture card game is
useful for all grade levels. While seemingly simple on its face (put the cards in proper order) it
can be made more difficult with more complex sequences. As an example, a high school level
culinary arts program might task students with sequencing the steps of making a complicated
dish.
News Analysis is an activity that you can adjust to instill creativity into your culinary arts
classroom. While the website https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/interdisciplinary-teachingactivities-examples/ promotes news analysis as a way for students to address current events,
the activity can be augmented by having students analyze, as an example, recipes to determine
country of origin or how they could be adjusted to make them more interesting (think of a recipe
for simple mac and cheese being turned into a lobster mac and cheese with four different
cheeses, a béchamel, parmesan breadcrumbs, etc.)
In considering creative approaches to interdisciplinary exercises, Skyward
(https://www.skyward.com/discover/blog/skyward-blogs/skyward-executive-blog/april-2017/fullsteam-ahead) proposes different activities, including Olympics as a way to bring sports, science
and culture together in a lesson. This can be coopted by a culinary arts program that would like
students to explore their world by having them represent and explore various countries before
“competing” in a culinary Olympics with each other.
According to Prodigy Game’s analysis of the topic
(https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/interdisciplinary-teaching-activities-examples/),
interdisciplinary teaching can improve critical thinking, help students plan for future problems,
and can employ better bias recognition. In a society where the internet is helping isolate rather
than expand, school can be the first line of defense against ignorance.
Interdisciplinary Lesson Plans from the website EduRef can be found here:
https://eduref.org/lessons/interdisciplinary. The website provides hundreds of resources for
integrating all style of interdisciplinary lesson plans and hosts examples with specifics for all
grade levels from kindergarten to grade 12.
The Resilient Educator hosts resources for interdisciplinary units at its website:
https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/novelty-lesson-plan-ideas. Not only does the
organization provide examples for novelty lesson plans among its available classroom
resources, but also offers an explanation to the question “In school, we tend to learn and teach
subjects in segmented disciplines, but who says that’s the best and only way?”