The concept board is a visual tool that can be used as a reference during learning engagements and consolidation activities. The concept board shows the relationships between Concepts, Big Ideas and factual knowledge. While guiding students towards an understanding of the relationship between concepts like "environnements" and Big Ideas like "Human activities and decisions about land use may alter the environment" teachers may use the concept board to support students seeing the connection. The concept board that you see in this photo and on the CBCI page of this website has been simplified for primary students. The concept board helps students acquire a clear understanding of the difference between a concept and a fact.

Subtle but important changes were made to the concept board to reflect a primary French Immersion classroom program. The bottom row of the concept board shows the role that facts play in the Structure of Knowledge. In Lynn Erickson's model this row is labeled "facts", we changed it to "examples". In the centre row — the concept level — we labelled it "Les idees" . What Erickson calls "generalizations" we called "les grandes idees". At the top row of the model we kept the title "les theories". The adaptations to Lynn Erikson's model helped us to align The Structure of Knowledge with the language of the Ontario curriculum.

To introduce the concept board, we recommend that you read the book On a Beam of Light: The Story of Albert Einstein, by Jennifer Berne and Vladimir Radunsky. The book illustrates how Einstein first learned facts and came up with ideas, Big Ideas and theories. Another book that can be used to inspire a disposition about wondering and thinking at the beginning of a unit is, What Do You Do With An Idea, by Kobi Yamada.

Inductive Teaching

Inductive Lesson Design is a method wherein the classroom consolidations of student learning reveal 'percolating ideas' that resemble the Big Ideas of the unit. In the same way that a teacher would not give away the answers to profound inquiry questions, a teacher using a CBCI methodology would not dictate the concepts to be understood. With meaningful, relevant and carefully planned learning engagements students will optimally arrive at conclusions about concepts and Big ideas. The teacher's role is to frame and strengthen their conclusions so that their attention is drawn to specific concepts and Big Ideas.

Here is a quote from Cult of Pedagogy website (https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/inductive-learning/) that clearly explains an inductive teaching practice:

"Inductive learning takes the traditional sequence of a lesson and reverses things. Instead of saying, “Here is the knowledge; now go practice it,” inductive learning says, “Here are some objects, some data, some artifacts, some experiences…what knowledge can we gain from them?