Professional Development

Integrated Academics: Real Life in Learning

Karl Peterson, Pinal County Tech Prep

“Today’s lesson is to determine the measurement of the hypotenuse of a triangle, its height, tangent and side opposite of the triangle.”

As a sophomore, the prospect of completing that lesson generated little interest. Yes, it was explained, we would learn the Pythagorean theorem: a2 + b2 = c2 . That is, the sum of the squares of the two sides of a right triangle equal the square of the third side, the hypotenuse. My interest level was fading fast.

Coincidentally, our construction trades instructor informed us the day before that our next project was building a 7 by 14-foot shed! Now I could use the “Pythagorean theorem” to construct the shed in my building trades class! My thought process went from, “What good is this?” to “This has application in things that real people do every day!”

When teaching and learning are integrated and applied, student understanding and retention of information increase significantly. As one Tech Prep instructor recently pointed out, “My students learn best in a context that matters to them. Integrating teaching/learning makes that happen. It really promotes student accomplishment and success.”

Tech Prep provides a variety of professional development opportunities for teachers to grow in their understanding of the benefits of integrated/applied contextual teaching/learning.

For more information on Integrated Academics or any of the Professional Development opportunities available in your area through Tech Prep, contact your local consortium director.