Examining international baccalaureate diploma programme mathematics teachers' conception of interdisciplinarity and their teaching approach

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the manner in which teachers utilizing the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme integrate interdisciplinarity while teaching exponential functions in mathematics and the assessment process of the Internal Assessment and Extended Essay. Qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews. The first semi-structured interview was conducted with eight teachers from Istanbul to understand their general conceptions about interdisciplinarity and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. The second semi-structured was conducted with four teachers who were chosen among the first group to understand their instruction and assessment processes. The interviews were analyzed with two approaches, (i) coding for teachers' conceptions of interdisciplinarity about instruction and assessment and (ii) thematic analysis. Curriculum, interdisciplinary thinking, and implementation of interdisciplinarity appeared in the first analysis of eight teachers. Modelling, conceptual understanding and procedural fluency, nature of school, and requirement of assessment in International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme curriculum appeared in the second analysis of four teachers. In addition, thematic analysis revealed teachers' conceptions of interdisciplinarity in relation with the IB-DP curriculum. Finally, the study found that teachers are becoming interdisciplinary level for the instruction process and interdisciplinary level for the assessment process.