They are basing their theory and practice of education on developmental brain research, theories of information processing, and the needs dictated by today's information-rich world. These reformers contend that teaching facts and skills in a school day artificially compartmentalized into subject disciplines fails to prepare students for a swiftly changing world. A single definition of integrative education is elusive.
Shoemaker brings together several themes to create an eclectic definition.
Integrative education bases its practices on the characteristics of the human learner and on the interdependent nature of reality. In spite of its shortcomings, the practice of breaking down instruction into separate academic disciplines has seldom been challenged. While integrative education is not new, current supporters offer proof of its wisdom by pointing to recent research that indicates information is most securely encoded and best retrieved by the brain when it can be connected to a web of meaning. Kain notes that findings on the effectiveness of integrative education are inconclusive. He suggests in many instances findings are biased by the values that drive the traditional subject-discipline curriculum.