Threads of Meaning: Reclaiming Values-Based Integration for K-12 Curricula

• In Event: Islamic Studies and Arabic: Integrated Curricular Approaches for Intensive Programs, Faith-Based Education, and Public Schools

Abstract

This presentation shares a practical framework for integrating values-based content into general education subjects in K–12 schools. Developed at a U.S.-based independent K-8 Islamic school and intended for broader application, the framework redefines curriculum not only as academic transmission but also as an ethical, civic, and historical endeavor. It challenges educators to reimagine curriculum integration as a way to reclaim moral legacies and help students connect knowledge to purpose and responsibility.

The framework draws inspiration from Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas’s conception of education (ta'dīb). This approach involves teaching manners and virtuous actions through connected knowledge and self-development (al-Attas 1980). It is informed by critical curriculum studies (Ladson-Billings 1995; Pinar 2012), which questions dominant narratives and positions curriculum as a space of moral and political formation. Research in character education supports this framework by promoting the inclusion of virtues like justice and empathy into various subjects instead of keeping them in separate programs (Berkowitz & Bier 2017; Lickona 2013; Pike, et al. 2021).

The model emerged through several years of design-based practitioner inquiry. It was developed through cycles of curriculum design, teacher collaboration, and reflective implementation. At its heart, it helps educators find standards that emphasize moral, ethical, or virtuous concepts and align them to objectives in subjects like language arts, social studies, and science. These standards are turned into essential understandings that all learners can access and are framed as universal human issues. Teachers then create interdisciplinary lessons and performance assessments that ask students to think critically and ethically. While the process was not structured as formal empirical research, it was documented through reflection, revision, and gathering of curriculum materials.

Evidence of the model’s application includes a range of interdisciplinary units. For instance, students connected literary themes of interpersonal growth and struggle to philosophical ideas about fate, empathy, and moral responsibility. In another example, a historical study of colonization and resistance set the stage for discussions about ethical agency, power, and representation, using a variety of sources, including literature, music, and civic texts. The curriculum materials consisted of lesson plans, rubrics, student work, and assessments.

These examples show how the model can be adapted across cultural and institutional contexts to support student engagement, emotional intelligence, historical insight, and civic awareness. Although grounded in an Islamic educational philosophy, its core principles of ethical anchoring, interdisciplinary structure, and intentional assessment are broadly applicable across traditions.

Teachers using the framework reported greater coherence in their instruction and increased student engagement with real-world issues. Students demonstrated the ability to link content to ethical and social realities in their lives, encouraging both critical thinking and personal growth. At a time when national discourse is fractured over whose histories and values belong in schools, this work affirms the transformative power of moral inquiry in shaping inclusive, justice-driven futures.

Author

• Ismail Muhammad ibn Ali, Al Fatih Academy