The advantages and disadvantages of interdisciplinary projects in urban middle schools

Abstract

Through the partnership between The College of New Jersey, Kilmer Middle School, an urban school in Trenton, New Jersey, created interdisciplinary project for each grade level within the school. For the sixth grade, they focused on amusement parks. For seventh grade, they focused on the similarities between Caldwalder Park in Trenton, New Jersey and Central Park in Manhattan, New York due to the fact that the same landscape architect, Fredrick Law Olmstead, created both parks. For eighth grade, they focused on careers since they are going into the high school the following year. These projects were created to help make the concepts shown easier to understand and more interesting for students due to the level of relatability that there is for each student. This project analyzes the use of interdisciplinary projects within an urban middle school educational setting, focuses on the positive and negative outcomes of the projects, and examines the impact an interdisciplinary project can have on students in an educational setting, more specifically focusing on its impact on urban students’ engagement and motivation.