In our previous post, we looked at the idea of CSL (Cross Syllabus Links) Studies – the suggestion that individual subject teachers, especially at Key Stage 3, can come together and explore each other syllabuses and then deliver their own discrete subject lessons in a way that draws on other subject disciplines to the mutual benefit of all. We looked at examples from Science, Geography, and Latin. Let’s now briefly look at some more possibilities.
Examples of CSL (Cross Syllabus Links) Studies in Geography, Classical Greek and History
In Geography pupils often study Globalisation, the process by which the world’s economies, political systems and cultures are becoming more inter-connected. It is a phenomenon that has been going on for decades, but, since the 1980s, its pace has become more rapid. Of the several factors that are responsible for its growth, one is undoubtedly the advances made in Information and Communication Technology (email, internet, social media) and transport (shipping containerisation). As we all know, technology has caused the world to shrink and simultaneously become more connected.
A similar phenomenon arguably occurred in the Mediterranean during the 8th Century BCE, with the advent of alphabetic writing. Alphabetic writing was, at its introduction, a revolutionary technology and it perhaps had more far-reaching effects than our contemporary computing revolution which is helping fuel globalisation.
This eight-century BCE technological revolution was due to the very nature of alphabetic writing itself. Pre-alphabet writing systems, such as Egyptian hieroglyphics or Akkadian cuneiform were, broadly speaking, representational. This meant that they consisted of hundreds of symbols which stood for the things described. Highly trained scribes were the only members of society who could understand these symbols; subsequently, the ability to read and write was only possible for the few, or, in the terminology of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the 1%.
But an alphabet works differently; it is more like a speech-recording device. Each letter represents the sound of a spoken word or part of a word. If you can correctly pronounce the alphabet, you can sound out and read all the words of a language. To take the Greek alphabet as an example: there are typically 24 letters which, in various combinations, can spell out all the thousands upon thousands of words in the Greek language. The Greek alphabet is one of the world’s first alphabets, from which all others derive. As a communication technology alphabetic writing proved so successful that we are still using it today.
The invention of the Greek alphabet had a democratising effect. Unlike pre-alphabet writing systems, most people are able to learn the letters of an alphabet and therefore most people can become literate. Thus, most people can read and write not only, for example, simple shopping lists, but also comprehensive inventories of goods for buying and selling. This is certainly what happened in the eight-century BCE where we see among the Greeks an expansion of manufacture, trade and sea-faring as they establish settlements all over the Mediterranean – from Spain, France and Italy in the West (Marseille, Nice and Naples were originally Greek cities) to Africa, Asia and the Black Sea in the South and East (Odessa too has Greek roots). The invention of the alphabet was a factor in all of this development, in much the same way as communication technology has allowed the phenomenon of globalisation.
But, as well as being employed for commercial and other utilitarian purposes, the new alphabet technology was also adopted for writing down epic poetry with the result that poetry (and eventually other literary works) could be discussed and disseminated more readily. Political culture, too, was effected; what had hitherto been ‘unwritten laws’, which were only known by a ruling elite (or the 1%) and interpreted by this elite in their judgements over the people (the 99%), were now written down and displayed in public places for all to see – one of the first steps that led later on in Greek history to the evolution of democratic government, namely rule by the people. Thus, it can argued, the invention of the alphabet was a stimulus to economic, artistic and political culture in all sorts of ways. It was certainly a factor in what is often termed the ‘eight-century renaissance’, a cultural leap which saw the beginning of the intellectual achievements for which the Greeks became famous and which, as one historian has written, ‘could not have evolved without writing’.
It would surely be beneficial for students starting their study of Classical Greek and learning to write the Greek alphabet to be aware of what a revolutionary technology alphabetic writing initially was and thus make links with the study of globalisation, and the factors that feed into globalisation. Will ICT in the twenty-first century have the same far reaching effects? Will the revolution that is currently happening in the commercial world also spread to artistic and political culture, just as was the case with the invention of the alphabet in the eight-century BCE? It is a parallel that relates to the notion of ‘historical cause’ and can thus be linked to History lessons at Key Stage 3, where the causes of other revolutions, such as the Glorious, American, French and Industrial, are on the syllabus. Thus the Geography, Greek and History teachers, with a knowledge of each other’s subject matter, can plan and deliver their own lessons for the mutual enhancement and education of all.
‘Live in fragments no longer. Only connect…’(E M Forster)
As we outlined in our previous post, the possibilities for connection between all the school subjects are endless. Its manifestations will (of course) depend upon the willingness and erudition of individual teachers. Would it be possible to evolve a Key Stage 3 curriculum and a learning environment within schools that allow pupils, with teacher guidance, to make these connections for themselves, whilst still preserving the depth and purity of what is taught in the subject specialisms? In doing so, we would be assuming that all, or at least most, of the subjects taught at Key Stage 3 are in some sense related. We understand that, by connecting these complimentary fields of knowledge, pupils are led to a richer understanding of the nuances in a specialist subject, as well as to an awareness of how these nuances might be woven inextricably into the strands of other subjects to create a majestic tapestry of learning.
In our final post we will look at ways to set up Cross Syllabus Link Studies in schools, as well as consider the effects that they might have not only in schools, but also in wider society.
