Katharina Spintzyk, Friederike Strehlke, Stephanie Ohlberger,

Bernd Gröben, and Claas Wegner

An Empirical Study Investigating

Interdisciplinary Teaching of Biology
and Physical Education
Abstract compared with the control group (F(1, Wandersee, 2007; Klos, 2007; Lambert,
This paper deals with an empirical 113.24)=126, p<0.01, I 2p=0.43). 2005). There are studies on the students’
study examining the effectiveness of in- and teachers’ attitudes towards IdT to
Introduction be found as well (e.g., Gerdes, 2001;
terdisciplinary teaching in biology and
For years, interdisciplinary teaching
physical education (PE) regarding the Hodgson, Keck, Patterson & Maki,
(IdT) has been regarded as a form of 2005; Lambert, 2005; Schwartz-Bloom,
students’ growth in knowledge.
education imparting cross-linked and ap- Halpin & Reiter, 2011; Stübig, Ludwig,
The study was conducted with 141
plicable knowledge to students beyond Bosse, Gessner & Lorberg, 2006). How-
German sixth form students. In groups,
the bounds of individual disciplines ever, these studies are unable to reveal
they were taught three hours a week for
a period of six weeks. In order to com- (MSWWF, 1999a/b). Because of the any explicit statement about the con-
pare the effectiveness of regular lessons vague and variable definitions of IdT that cept’s effectiveness, especially regarding
with the project, the study uses a test are found throughout literature, this ar- the students’ improvement of application
and control group design. This means a ticle utilizes the term IdT to represent all skills. This is also confirmed by Klos
test group takes part in interdisciplinary methods of teaching related to more than (2007), who sees a lack of substantiated
teaching (IdT) lessons while a control one subject (Häsing, 2009; Labudde, empirical data to support IdT. Therefore,
group of peers receives subject-related 2003). This paper deals with the com- the study presented in this paper exam-
lessons. After being exposed to the dif- bined teaching of biology and physical ines IdT’s effectiveness in respect to the
ferent kinds of lessons for a certain time, education (PE). students’ growth in knowledge in biolo-
we then compared the effects on the stu- IdT is recognised as an important gy and PE. It must be noted that this area
dents’ skills in a pre-/post-test. The IdT teaching method and can be found in has not yet been researched extensively.
lessons are designed to complement each numerous current syllabi of German fed-
other so that the biology lesson supplies eral states, for instance in the curricula of Expectations Regarding
explanations for processes occurring in Hesse (2010a/b), Lower Saxony (2007a/b; Interdisciplinary Teaching
PE, whereas the PE lesson provides a 2010), North Rhine-Westphalia (2014a/b; As mentioned above, different Ger-
visualisation of the theoretical biology 2008), Saxony (2011a/b) and Baden- man federal states already demand
content. Wurttemberg (2004). Baden-Wurttemberg’s IdT in their curricula and regard it as a
In this paper, first the current German curriculum (2004) considers IdT as an method for helping students to acquire
curricula requirements as they relate to indispensable prerequisite for scientific knowledge that is of great personal rel-
interdisciplinary teaching will be out- propaedeutical issues and thus relevant for evance to them and, consequently, easily
lined. After this, the state of research upper school teaching. Saxony (2011a/b) applied to everyday situations (Müller,
concerning interdisciplinary teaching, further strengthens IdT’s relevance by 2006; Schecker & Winter, 2000). Deal-
methodical-didactic expectations and demanding that each student must en- ing with problems from everyday life
learning targets will be provided. Fol- gage in cross-disciplinary learning for situations and following a problem-
lowing on from this, the data investi- at least two weeks in each school year, oriented teaching approach results in a
gated in the course of the study will be irrespective of school age. deepened learning experience for stu-
presented, such as the study design and During the last ten years, both German dents. This is based on the premise that
measuring instruments. The results of and international studies concerning IdT students learn more readily by means
the pre-/post-test will be described and have been published. They examine dif- of practical experience and relevance
then discussed in the conclusion. They ferent aspects of this method, such as the to their environment (Stübig, Bosse &
indicate a significant growth in knowl- general availability of it in schools and Ludwig, 2002). The learning objectives
edge with the test group (IdT) when how it is realized there already (e.g. anticipated with IdT are related to three
Häsing, 2009; Maier, 2006; Rabenstein, aspects, namely developing cross-linked
2003). Other studies deal with the and scientific knowledge, learning how
Keywords: physical education, knowledge, students’ performance before and af- to act and learning to transfer knowl-
human biology, research, empirical study
ter sequences of this method (Clary & edge to other situations. Consequently,

SUMMER 2016 VOL. 25, NO. 1 35

this method’s intention is to avoid the should be given the chance to look at Study Design
emergence of inert or passive knowl- learning content from different per- The study at hand was conducted with
edge (Berck & Graf, 2003) and to pro- spectives in order to learn how to apply six courses and 141 students. In groups,
vide schoolchildren with basic skills to knowledge practically. Further, it should they were taught three hours a week for
transfer academic knowledge to their be aimed at articulation and reflection a period of six weeks. In order to com-
living environments. phases. During the learning process pare the effectiveness of regular lessons
Within the concept of IdT, the ap- conversations provide the opportunity to with the project, the study uses a test and
proach of situated learning has to be correlate learning processes and results. control group design. This means a test
mentioned. This concept includes learn- Moreover, practical knowledge can be group takes part in IdT lessons while a
ing content that is meaningful and of supported by making students aware of control group of peers receives subject-
personal relevance to students and their other relevant perspectives and situations. related lessons. After being exposed to
environments (Müller, 2006; Schecker & Not mentioning these possible applica- the different kinds of lessons for a certain
Winter, 2000). Hence, it describes learn- tions during learning can lead to inert time, we compared the lessons’ effects
ing conditions that consider various knowledge and the students’ lack of on the students’ skills in a pre-/post-test.
application situations within the learn- transfer skills. Additionally, social con- This creates a quasi-experimental design
ing process and thus try to prevent texts are to be created which originate since the students were not assigned to
passive knowledge. Passive knowledge from cooperative and interactive learn- the groups by chance. A strictly experi-
arises because of differences in the situ- ing forms. Both negotiation processes mental design would have caused the
ation of learning and the situation of and discussions occurring between disadvantage of lowered external valid-
application where new content should learners in social contexts have proven ity because of the test situation’s artifici-
be used (Hartinger & Mörtl-Hafizovic, to exert a positive effect on the learn- ality, aside from pragmatic problems like
2009). Following the strictly construc- ing process since students engage more organizing different timetables.
tivist theory, knowledge has to be cre- intensively in lessons. Further benefits Seventy-five of a total of 141 par-
ated by an individual actively and is of social contexts are the promotion of ticipating students belonged to the test
bound to the situation in which it is ac- generic and social competences such as group, whereas 66 students were as-
quired. As there is no such knowledge communication skills and the develop- signed to the control group. The test and
to be acquired in one situation that can ment of a higher frustration tolerance. It control groups contained three courses
easily be applied to a different situation, should be noted that in order to support of students each. The students were al-
transferring knowledge to different con- their students’ learning processes best located to the groups by means of their
texts is possible to a limited extent only and prevent inert knowledge, teachers PE classes since different PE classes of
(Klauer, 2006). This, however, raises should design their lessons so that they two Bielefeld grammar schools took part
the question of how learning situations promote active and self-regulated learn- in the study. Attention was paid to the
should be designed in order to enable a ing, which means processes that can be fact that the students were of a similar
certain degree of behavioural continuity influenced by the learners themselves catchment area in order to exclude con-
across different situations to support the (Kasztner, 2009). Generally, teachers founding variables such as the social
students’ transfer and application skills. should consider potential situations of background and the parents’ education.
Therefore, the features of situated learn- application in advance when designing University students who were already
ing will be outlined in the following lessons. If possible, learning and appli- experienced in teaching supervised the
paragraph. cation situations should correspond with study. In order to prevent as many con-
A central characteristic of situated each other (Renkl, 2010). founding variables (e.g., teaching style,
learning conditions is the attempt to The study presented in this paper experience, etc.) as possible, the follow-
establish authenticity in the learning examines whether IdT increases the ing measures were taken beforehand. Pri-
situation. Since knowledge is bound to students’ growth in knowledge and ap- or to this study, university students were
a situation and cannot be transferred to plication skills. It is based on a teaching provided with an extensive introduction
a different setting easily, the situation project employing IdT in biology and PE to the project during a block seminar. Fur-
in which knowledge acquisition takes lessons. The IdT lessons are designed to thermore, they were given detailed lesson
place has to be designed analogous to complement each other so that the bi- plans and materials, which allowed for a
other situations. However, providing ology lesson supplies explanations for precise imagination of the intended teach-
students with authentic learning situa- processes occurring in PE, whereas the ing process. This ensured the lessons’
tions is not enough to prevent them from PE lesson provides a visualisation of the contents were discussed and planned in
developing inert knowledge. Teachers theoretical biology content. In combi- detail and the expected teacher behavior
will not be able to integrate every single nation the IdT lessons offer students a was transparent. An additional clarifica-
potential application situation into their physical experience and a critical reflec- tion phase before every lesson helped the
teaching design (Hartinger & Mörtl- tion on what has been learned theoreti- university students to focus on what to do
Hafizovic, 2009). Nonetheless, students cally and practically. during the lessons. A teaching university

36 SCIENCE EDUCATOR
student as well as an observing university help of a knowledge test on a quantita- training (MSWWF 1999a/b). The fol-
student and the doctoral candidate con- tive level and further enriched by consul- lowing table (see Table 1) provides an
ducting the study were present during the tations between teacher and student on a overview of the biological and sportive
lessons. The observing person made sure qualitative level, which revealed the stu- contents the teaching units dealt with
the lesson was realized as planned and, if dents’ deep understanding of the content. and explains how these contents were
necessary, supported the teaching student. Also, filming took place throughout the combined. The exact procedure is de-
Every detail of the lesson was recorded by whole study, recording any student re- picted in detail afterwards.
the doctoral candidate so that deviations marks. The comments confirm the scores Whereas the test group was taught in
could be reflected on in retrospect. of the knowledge test and the findings of cross-disciplinary lessons that intensi-
With regard to the test’s validity check the evaluation talks that were held at the fied the transfer between the two sub-
(Shadish, Cook & Campbell, 2002; end of the endurance study. jects, the control group dealt with the
Cook & Campbell, 1979), several haz- Instead of using a variety of methods, topics separately in PE and biology les-
ards can be considered irrelevant for this this study addresses one method only, sons. The test group received interdis-
study. Confounding impacts occurring namely the quantitative element of the ciplinary block-classes (three lessons
randomly could have influenced the de- knowledge test. The qualitative inter- a week) so that biological and sportive
pendent variable, meaning the test score. views with the students that were also contents could be connected better. The
Those impacts might be personal inter- filmed could not be evaluated quantita- lessons combined theory and practice
est, previous knowledge or a decrease in tively due to financial and time reasons. with each other and took place in the
performance due to personal reasons that The study at hand has to be rated as a fitness studio. The teaching units were
individually or in sum could have altered complex treatment, meaning that there divided into a short theoretical sequence
the results. Since significance tests were might be interdependencies between sev- functioning as an introduction followed
carried out and proved the opposite, eral factors, such as student-teacher rela- by a practical phase to put the theories
those concerns can be discarded. tion, the teacher personality, the students’ into practice. During the latter, the sci-
A great number of significance tests motivation and condition. Nonetheless, entific input was applied to physical per-
make for a meaningful interpretation of wherever possible, measures were taken ceptions, observed and reflected upon. In
random results. This is not the case in to eliminate distorting impacts. this way the students turned the observa-
this study as a pilot study was conducted Regarding the external validity sensu tion object into their own and discussed
to check the tests, the content and the stricto, the interdependency of environ- their observations in order to improve
course of action and yielded results of ment and treatment has to be surveyed. the training units they were to follow.
the same significance as could be ob- The question is whether the results found The practical units further comprised
served in the main study. Also, a follow-up in a certain environment can be trans- different running forms such as interval
study produced correspondingly signifi- ferred to another, thus addressing the is- training and endurance runs as examples
cant results (still to be published). sue of sample selection. Due to selecting of the duration method. Special atten-
Regarding the internal validity sensu students from different schools to par- tion was paid to the endurance run which
stricto, interim events have to be taken ticipate in the study, this argument can was carried out in groups of four to five
into consideration. They could possibly be invalidated. It is true that the students students. After the teacher provided the
have led to a change in the independent stem from a similar social background, students with theoretical input about the
variable (test and control group) that can- but the follow-up study mentioned be- project, the students organized their en-
not be attributed to the treatment itself, fore took this into consideration and durance training on their own. Within
but rather to a structural incidence such sampled students from a different city, six weeks the students were to plan and
as a project day on the study’s content providing comparable results. Again, in- implement twelve training units in run-
concerning all the participants. Due to terim happenings between the pre- and ning groups of four both during and after
the great number of students, this event the post-test could have influenced the school. With the help of a training log,
seems very unlikely, even more so be- findings; however, the repetition of the the students created individual training
cause it would have needed to have hap- study proves that this aspect’s relevance plans and set goals for themselves on
pened across various schools and also, can be excluded. which they reflected after each training
nothing comparable was announced to The teaching units’ content of both unit. Moreover, the test group’s students
either the school or the conductors of the control and test group was based on were required to run cooperatively which
study, which is why the internal validity the North Rhine-Westphalia syllabi for means the group had to make arrange-
can still be presumed. PE and biology of fifth and sixth form ments in order not to over- or under-
In the context of external validity and classes. The thematic emphasis was put challenge its group members since the
specifically in terms of construct valid- on topics of human biology, such as groups were composed heterogeneously.
ity, the treatment was only measured muscle build-up and contraction, the car- Hence, one of the project’s main goals
on the basis of one operationalization. diovascular system, nutrition, training was to support the students’ sense of co-
Knowledge was investigated with the guidelines plus strength and endurance operative skills via collective training.

SUMMER 2016 VOL. 25, NO. 1 37

Table 1. Overview of theoretical and practical content taught within the study

theoretical component practical component

What happens inside a muscle during training?
Getting to know the muscular structure in the context of strength training
(actin & myosin, sarcomere, muscle fibers, bundles of muscles, muscle)
Rules for training The first guided training
Setting the training focus (training plan)
Recording the performance in a training log (reflection)
How does a muscle contract?
The role of ATP in muscle contraction
How does the training have to look like in order to be successful? – Training The first autonomous training
principles and the setting of training stimuli Introduction of the bicycle
Recording one’s aim and the respective training principles (number of sets
and repeats) in the training log (reflection)
Recording the progress in the training log (reflection) Individual training time in groups with a bicycle – adjustment of running pace
and usage of the bicycle
How can the energy supply for the muscles be ensured?
Purposeful setting of training stimuli as a necessary consequence of the
retrieval of resources: types of energy supply, super compensation
Consultation and support of the training by the teacher (at least one counselling Autonomous training in groups with a bicycle
session per group and student throughout the teaching unit)
Recording the progress in the training log (reflection)
Recording the progress in the training log (reflection) Individual training time in groups with a bicycle – reflection of running pace
and usage of the bicycle
Which exercises are helpful for training? Autonomous training in groups - application of different training methods for
Endurance and interval training – training methods running
Consultation and support of the training by the teacher Autonomous training in groups – application of different training methods for
Establishing a relation between different training methods in one’s own training running and reflection thereof
Recording the progress in the training log (reflection)
Recording the progress in the training log (reflection) Individual training time in groups with a bicycle
What happens when training too much? – sore muscles and its consequences Autonomous training in groups with a bicycle
Consultation and support of the training by the teacher Final run
As appropriate, test on the acquired knowledge, feedback on teaching unit

They were to coordinate their training in general, the students needed good stam- The school’s teachers taught the biology
order to manage running five and a half ina and had to communicate with each lessons after close consultations with the
kilometres in the shortest time possible – other in order to decide who was to use doctoral candidate to make sure the same
as a group. In order to prevent physical the bicycle to collectively run the route content was taught to both groups.
overexertion and frustration for untrained as quickly as possible.
students, every group had one bicycle The control group, on the other hand, Measuring Instruments
(and one helmet for safety reasons) dur- was taught a double lesson of PE with In order to examine IdT’s effective-
ing the training units. The bicycle could the topic of endurance training as well ness regarding the students’ growth in
be used by an exhausted student while as one single period of biology every knowledge, a knowledge test on the
the others continued running. During week. Both treatment and control groups newly acquired content of IdT lessons
each running unit the bicycle was to received lessons on endurance train- and a detailed evaluation sheet were
be switched from student to student so ing so they dealt with the same sportive developed. This pre-post-test includes
that one always had the chance to gather content. However, the control group was closed, semi-open and open questions
new strength. The advantage of using taught PE and biology lessons separately so the students’ foreknowledge and
the bike was that group members were from each other in order not to link the their performance development could be
not disrupted in their running flow1. In subjects. To sum it up, both groups were compared. In advance a detailed level of
exposed to the same problems and exer- expectations was created, including des-
1
For further information on the study’s cises during the PE lessons, but whereas ignated points for various single ques-
biological and sportive concept study the test group linked the PE content to tions and answers. Further, the tests and
please read Wegner, Spintzyk & Gröben, biology directly, the control group did answers were proofread twice in order
2011 and Wegner, Spintzyk & Gröben, not. Their biology and PE lessons were to ensure objectivity. The students were
2013. completely separated from each other. expected to be able to reproduce the new

38 SCIENCE EDUCATOR
knowledge in the test and also transfer project in order to find out about their at the point of measurement t2 has to
the newly learned content to novel tasks. attitude towards the project on a qualita- differ from each other. This assumption
The test has been performed in a pre- tive level. is based on the explanatory statements
liminary study with 23 pupils and has listed in the introduction for a particular
been adjusted in terms of its reliability Hypothesis application-related growth in knowledge
and selectivity. The knowledge test’s re- In order to compare the test and con- through IdT (KMK, 2004; MSWWF,
liability amounted to Cronbach’s alpha trol group with each other, these groups 1999a/b; Müller, 2006, Schecker &
of α = 0.710 at the time of measure- have to be representative with regards Winter, 2000; Stübig et al., 2002). Based
ment t2. The time of measurement t1 was to specific characteristics. This means on this, the hypothesis is as follows:
not considered in this test since it was that all participating students have to The test and control groups undergo
to check the students’ pre-knowledge. be German grammar school students of different developments in their per-
Regarding the separation efficiency, the that certain age and they should also be formance from t1 to t2. The test groups’
questions achieved results of >0.2, so a homogeneous concerning as many other increase of performance will be higher
sufficient mutuality between the ques- significant variables as possible (Bortz & than the control groups’ growth in
tions and the entire knowledge test can Döring, 2006). Thus, the study at hand knowledge.
be anticipated. uses the variables type of school, age and
Figure 1 provides some example ques- the factor performance level. Results
tions of pre-post-test closed, semi-open It is assumed that the test group’s The results of the study, driven by the
and open questions: students will have a greater increase in proposed hypothesis, are presented in the
Additionally, the students were in- knowledge than the students in the con- following part. For the calculation of the
terviewed repeatedly throughout the trol group, thus the groups’ development results, the program SPSS 21 was used
and it was tested on a 5% significance
level. Functioning as the dependent vari-
able was the total score of the knowledge
test, whereas the independent variable
was set by either the test or the control
group. Further, the hypothesis was evalu-
ated by means of an analysis of variance
(ANOVA) with repeated measurements.
In order to check the preconditions for
the conduction of the knowledge test,
both the normal distribution and the ho-
mogeneity of variance was calculated for
the test and control group. Normal distri-
bution is given for the test group at both
t1 and t2 (p>0.05), but not for the con-
trol group (p<0.05). Mauchly’s spheric-
ity test was used to validate the ANOVA
for checking the hypothesis. It could be
shown that homogeneity of variance was
not fulfilled (F(1.126)=113.24, p<0.05).
As Stevens (1999), among others, has
pointed out, those irregularities are not
to be assessed impedimental as the test is
quite resilient to violations of that kind.
At the beginning, the test and con-
trol group differed only slightly in their
descriptive values, with the test group
N=64 achieving a score of M = 6.67,
SD = 2.28 and the control group N=64
reaching a sore of M = 6, SD = 2.50.
At the time of measurement t2, the test
group N=64 achieved better average val-
ues (M = 12.42, SD = 4.2) than the con-
Figure 1. Examples of Closed Task, Semi-Open Task and Open Task Questions trol group N=64 (M = 6.31, SD = 2.64).

SUMMER 2016 VOL. 25, NO. 1 39

 Whether the development of the their growth in knowledge than the con- knowledge by making them aware of
test and control group differs signifi- trol group. other relevant perspectives and situations
cantly from each other was evaluated Regarding the knowledge test’s over- of application in class and providing
by means of the variance analysis with all results, the test group showed an en- them with authentic lessons that again
repeated measurements. Every one of hanced ability to retrieve and apply the influence the students’ commitment and
the 64 students of the test and control newly acquired knowledge at t2 when interest in the matter.
group was included in this calculation. compared to the control group. Both Generally, the findings support the
The evaluation showed a high signifi- groups dealt with the same learning con- thesis that students taught in an inter-
cance for the time of measurement ((F(1, tent and their lessons only differed re- disciplinary manner possess enhanced
113.24)=126, p<0.01) and the treatment garding the teaching methods to which knowledge in comparison with school-
((F(1, 94.12)=126, p<0.01) in favor of the students were exposed. children taught in subject-related lessons
the test group. The interaction effect of Further, the interviews throughout the (Fußangel & Gräsel, 2008; Stübig et al.,
this significant developmental differen- lessons have shown that the students of 2002). Studies, such as those by Clary &
tial between the test and control group the test group were open-minded about Wandersee (2007) or Schwartz-Bloom
is high I 2p=0.43 (Bortz & Döring 2006, the study and very motivated to organize et al. (2011), confirm the assumption of
606), so the treatment can be considered their endurance training and reflect upon the study.
an important influence on the develop- it. They displayed considerably higher in-
ment of the students’ performance (see terest in the topic of the project and were Conclusion
Figure 2). ready to engage with it theoretically and This study’s objective was to investi-
to carry it out in appropriate practice. gate IdT as regards its effectiveness in
Discussion Hence, the test group’s high per- promoting applicable knowledge. The
Not only do the findings reveal that formance development and growth in basis for this was established by a thor-
the test group’s performance developed knowledge is perhaps explained by the ough literature review as well as cur-
significantly from measurement point fact that IdT lessons are designed to sup- rent German curricula. An evaluation
of time t1 to t2, but also that the students port situated learning. According to the of the data collected during the project
receiving IdT lessons achieved sub- strictly constructivist theory, knowledge presented a positive picture of IdT’s ef-
stantially higher values regarding their is bound to the situation it is in which fectiveness concerning the students’
performance compared with the control it is acquired and only applicable in a performance levels and their growth in
group at t2 ( I 2p=0.43). Hence, the test limited number of similar situations. IdT knowledge. Before the intervention’s
group developed much better concerning lessons support the students’ practical commencement, the sampling was ho-
mogeneous in its specific characteristics.
After the intervention then, the sampling
displayed a significant heterogeneity
as regards performance characteristics.
Students in the test group attained a sig-
nificant increase in knowledge growth
whereas the control group did not. The
reason for this can be found, amongst
others, in the networking of differ-
ent topics and subjects and the situated
learning conditions that were lacking in
subject-related teaching.
In accordance with the discussed test
group’s performance, the control group’s
weak development is to be explained by
the following. Following the strictest
form of the constructivist theory, knowl-
edge is bound to the situation in which
it is acquired, in this case biology les-
sons. Since subject-related lessons usu-
ally do not support the students’ practical
knowledge and do not include possible
application situations, they lead to the
control group’s lack of transfer skills
Figure 2. The Test and Control Groups‘ Development from t1 to t2 in the Knowledge Test and hence inert knowledge. This is why

40 SCIENCE EDUCATOR
the control group can only apply knowl- Cook, T. D. & Campbell, D. T. (1979). KMK Kultusministeriumskonferenz (2004).
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Didactics of Biology at Bielefeld University.
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lehrplandb/lehrplaene/listing/0 stufe im Bundesland Hessen. Kassel: Prof. Dr. Class Wegner is a senior teacher
Sächsisches Staatsinstitut für Kultus Kassel University Press. for biology and PE at a secondary school
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lehrplandb/lehr plaene/listing/0 480-485. an expert in the fields of giftedness.

42 SCIENCE EDUCATOR