PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Marion L. Pearson
AU  - Harry T. Hubball
TI  - Curricular Integration in Pharmacy Education
AID  - 10.5688/ajpe7610204
DP  - 2012 Dec 12
TA  - American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
PG  - 204
VI  - 76
IP  - 10
4099  - http://www.ajpe.org/content/76/10/204.short
4100  - http://www.ajpe.org/content/76/10/204.full
SO  - Am J Pharm Educ2012 Dec 12; 76
AB  - This article reviews the concepts of curricular integration and integrative learning. These concepts have reemerged in contemporary higher education reforms and are crucial in pharmacy programs where students are expected to acquire the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for competent practice in a complex environment. Enhancing integration requires negotiating obstacles, including institutional traditions of disciplinary structures and disciplinary differences in understandings of knowledge and approaches to teaching and learning; investing the time and effort to design and implement integrated curricula; and using learning-centered pedagogical strategies. Evidence supporting the value of such efforts is not compelling, as much because of insufficient research as lackluster findings. Future avenues of scholarly inquiry are suggested to evaluate curricular integration, distinguishing between the curriculum espoused by planners, the curriculum enacted by instructors, and the curriculum experienced by students.