Originally published as a special issue of the Middle School Journal, this book presents integrative curriculum as a foundational element of the middle school.

Lisa M. Harrison is Associate Professor of Teacher Education at the Patton College of Education at Ohio University, US.

Ellis Hurd is Professor of Teaching and Learning at the College of Education, Illinois State University, US.

Kathleen Brinegar is Associate Professor of Education at Northern Vermont University, US.

Introduction

Lisa M. Harrison, Ellis Hurd, and Kathleen M. Brinegar

SECTION I: SCHOLARSHIP CENTERED IN MIDDLE GRADES CLASSROOMS

1. The Responsible Change Project: Building a Justice-Oriented Middle School

Curriculum through Critical Service-Learning

Heather Coffey and Steve Fulton

2. Middle School Curriculum Aimed at Developing Agents of Change

Michelle Rupenthal and Shelly Furuness

3. An Intervention to Support Mathematics Self-Efficacy in Middle School

Lia D. Falco

4. Using Claims and Evidence to Support the Search for Extraterrestrial Life: Teacher Reflections Following an Interdisciplinary English-Science Argumentation Unit

Ryan Summers, Kathy Rodems, Sharlene Denos, and Amy Atkinson

SECTION II: MIDDLE LEVEL TEACHER PREPARATION

5. Interdisciplinary Curriculum: Using Poetry to Integrate Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum

William P. Bintz and Gumiko Monobe

6. Rethinking Content Teaching at the Middle Level: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Kelly M. Moser, Jessica Ivy, and Peggy F. Hopper

7. A Community and Place-Based Approach to Middle Childhood Science Teacher Education

Danielle Dani