Similar Studies Can Equal Captivating Classes: By Ashley Lasko
Every student tends to have one or two classes they excel in and enjoy as well as one or two classes they tend to resent. This generally follows the rule of either a math and science student or a history and english student, but there are obviously exceptions. Loving both science and math, I am not among those exceptions. My affinity towards science and math does also mean I’ve never enjoyed english or history as much. (A bit ironic to write on an english blog). Incidentally, my blog discusses how the addition of science has elevated my experience in my english class. However, I’d just like to say that before Frankenstein both my english and history classes were amazing. I’d also like to add that I know both classes will stay amazing after. I have some really experienced and dedicated teachers this year. While I may never truly enjoy english or history as much as I enjoy math and science, it’s truly the effort the teachers have put into each day that keep the subjects both interesting and intriguing.
In our english class we recently began to read Frankenstein, a book written by Mary Shelley that details the story Frankenstein, a scientist. We have not read far into the book, however it’s clear Frankenstein has components of science despite being a book studied in english. Overlapping subjects is a rarity in most classes, especially before high school. While sciences, such as chemistry and biology, tend to go hand in hand, history was usually just a history class and math was usually just a math class. Teachers often never tried to incorporate other subjects into their classes on a large scale, with a few exceptions.
This is why, especially due to my affinity towards science, reading Frankenstein sparked my interest more than that other books we read this year. Reading a book for english while being able to apply interesting parts of science made the book easy to understand and more intriguing. This is partly since we’re focusing on older, classic books in english this year, so the writing itself is hard to understand. The fact that these books were written long ago also means they reflect a culture we don’t have experience with. The component of science in Frankenstein helps the book become more relatable and therefore more understandable. By making a book understandable it is easier to apply and analyze in class.
As I mentioned in my first paragraph, not everyone is going to love the sciences, and those people will likely will not have the different experience I will when reading Frankenstein. Even so, I think this combination of both english and science make something really clear. Integrating components of other subjects into an other one is a possible way to keep students learning. Yes, this maybe a bit of a personal approach to engaging students, but it's well known every student learns a little differently. I also know, especially on certain topics, integrating other subjects could be difficult if not impossible. I don’t have any experience teaching and don’t want imply I know what’s best, I simply hope I brought attention to the walls dividing subjects and the potential lack of need for them.
