Cross-Curricular and Integrated Learning
The development of skills and knowledge in mathematics is often enhanced by learning in
other subject areas. Teachers should ensure that all students have ample opportunities to
explore a subject from multiple perspectives by emphasizing cross-curricular learning and
integrated learning, as follows:
a) In cross-curricular learning, students are provided with opportunities to learn and use
related content and/or skills in two or more subjects. Students can use the concepts and
skills of mathematics in their science or social studies lessons. Similarly, students can use
what they have learned in science to illustrate or develop mathematical understanding. For
example, in Grade 6, concepts associated with the fulcrum of a lever can be used to develop
a better understanding of the impact that changing a set of data can have on the mean.
b) In integrated learning, students are provided with opportunities to work towards meeting
expectations from two or more subjects within a single unit, lesson, or activity. By linking expectations
from different subject areas, teachers can provide students with multiple opportunities
to reinforce and demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a range of settings. Also,
the mathematical process expectation that focuses on connecting encourages students to
make connections between mathematics and other subject areas. For example, students in
Grade 2 could be given the opportunity to relate the study of location and movement in
the Geometry and Spatial Sense strand of mathematics to the study of movement in the
Structures and Mechanisms strand in science and technology. Similarly, the same students
could link their study of the characteristics of symmetrical shapes in Visual Arts to the
creation of symmetrical shapes in their work in Geometry and Spatial Sense