The international FOSTIN project (Fostering Students’ Interdisciplinary Competence through
the Action-Oriented approach and Collaborative Online International Learning) responds
to the current need to incorporate interdisciplinary learning in education to prepare high
school and university students for real life and broaden their understanding of the world. It
aims to provide teachers with learning materials with interdisciplinary content so that the
teachers would not see time constraints and lack of resources as major challenges, and
would have resources of high quality ready to be used. One of the outcomes of the project
are four thematically distinct teaching handbooks that can also be used as coursebooks.
The four thematic areas cover art and culture, history, civic education and literature.
The Art and Culture Coursebook offers a collection of 25 lesson plans designed for
advanced students (B2+ level) at higher secondary or undergraduate level. It brings together
the work of eight authors from four different countries (Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania) and different educational institutions (secondary schools and universities), which
results in a welcome variety of ideas and perspectives.
The lesson plans, designed primarily for online 45-minute sessions, explore artistic
topics ranging from literature and mythology (e.g. the myth of the Minotaur, early English
poetry, science fiction), to painting (e.g. E. Munch’s The Scream), music (e.g. the genres of
ballad and blues), film adaptation (e.g. The Hours), film (e.g. K. Deák’s short film Sing) and
architecture (e.g. the forms and functions of buildings). As such, they are a creative resource
that draws on a hands-on approach. It supports experiential, reflective, and culturally engaged learning. Most importantly, it helps students build a meaningful relationship with art
and culture in its many forms and shapes. As to our intended audience, the coursebook is
equally aimed at teachers and students who can share engagement with the lesson plan.
The introduction to each lesson plan outlines the topic, a problem task, and comments
on prior preparation and interdisciplinarity. It is followed by three to four detailed activities,
each including learning objectives, recommended timing and aids, tips for in-person teaching, discussion prompts, and step-by-step instructions. The lesson plans typically conclude
with a follow-up assignment, a list of sources and links to relevant materials, a reflection
and, in some cases, worksheets. All lesson plans are highly practical, allowing teachers to
pick a plan and use it (or adapt it) the very next day.
The lesson plans are organised into five larger thematic units that are ordered in the following manner:
1. The Art of the Film World (Ottilia Veres with Tünde Bodoni-Dombi on cinematography from different genre perspectives and Iuliana Borbely on film adaptations)
2. The Art of Painting (L’ubica Durcová on great paintings)
3. The Art of Mythology and of the Unreal (Bökös Borbála on the fantasy and utopian
worlds in literature and Ottilia Veres on reflections of mythological characters in
modern literature)
4. The Art of Music and Poetry (Titus Pop on music in poetry and Titus Pop with
Laszloffy Zsolt on musical genres)
5. The Art of Building (Klára Lancová on lived-in architecture)

Available at: www. fostin. ukf. sk/ mod/ page/ view. php? id= 902 (remove spaces)