Strategy-based Instruction: Teacher explains a cognitive strategy or procedure, models the strategy, provides guided practice and feedback as students internalize the strategy. In Integrated Science, a considerable part of the class is dedicated towards demonstrating and modelling what it means to be a learner, how does one find the balance between unhindered enthusiasm, inquiry, and methodical research and recording?
Coaching: Teacher makes criterion-referenced observations about performance and makes immediate, specific feedback. Students will be continuously required to connect their thoughts and ideas back to the bigger picture, the concept occurring within the group, and to recognise potential ways to explore their research further.
Graphic Organizers: Teacher uses visual diagrams to help students understand content and thinking strategies. Developing skill and familiarity with visual depictions of conceptual data whether it's a flow-chart or data points on a graph, students will be exposed to and required to interpret visual data both as an instructional strategy but also as a shared language to demonstrate their understandings.
Independent Study: Teacher encourages individuals or small groups of students to explore self-selected areas of study.
Socratic Questioning: Teacher poses a carefully constructed sequence of questions to help students improve their logical reasoning and critical thinking skills. When grappling with big ideas students are kept engaged with their lines of inquiry by having subject specific expertise present responding with leading questions whilst prompting the students to record and elaborate upon their work.
Inquiry-based Instruction: Teacher poses a task, problem, or intriguing situation, which students will explore across small changes in data sets, and generate insights about the problem and/or solutions. Whether it be a known mathematical paradox or scientific problem with multiple outcomes the teacher will create a guiding prompt that rapidly engages the learner through careful use of context, language, and delivery. For example, the travelling salesman problem could be scaled and presented as "Can you visit ten US airports whilst spending the least amount of money to travel the entire route?", or developing skills in database management through the lens of political science and the electoral college, or looking at the complexity of taxonomy through the seemingly simple question "What is a tree?"