The Impact of Interdisciplinary Instruction on the Development of Meta-subject Skills among Primary School Learners: An Experimental Study in Kazakhstan
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Interdisciplinary teaching effectively develops meta-subject skills in primary school learners by enhancing cognitive, critical, analytical, communicative, and regulatory skills. This study aims to organize the primary education process based on interdisciplinary connections and to examine the formation of meta-subject skills among learners. To achieve this goal, an author-developed educational program grounded in interdisciplinary integration was designed and implemented. The study was conducted in general education schools of the Republic of Kazakhstan and included three stages: diagnostic, formative, and control. A quasi-experimental design with pre/post-test measurements was employed, involving control and experimental groups. In the experimental class, the educational process was implemented using the specially developed interdisciplinary program, while the control class followed the traditional curriculum. The collected data were analyzed using the Shapiro–Wilk test to assess the normality of distribution and the Mann–Whitney U test to determine differences between groups. The pre-test results showed that the control and experimental groups had comparable initial levels of meta-subject skills. After the formative stage, a significant improvement was observed in the experimental group. Statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups confirmed the effectiveness of the interdisciplinary teaching approach. The findings demonstrate that interdisciplinary teaching positively influences the development of meta-subject skills in primary school learners. The implemented program contributed to improving the quality of the educational process and supported the development of students’ universal learning skills. The results confirm the reliability and validity of the study and highlight the importance of widely integrating interdisciplinary teaching into primary education practice.
Source: Research Square
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225728274