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Theory- and Research-Based Active Instruction
On the Multiple Intelligences Teaching Strategies page we discuss the six different teaching strategies each of our lessons uses. All six teaching strategies (Visual Discovery, Social Studies Skill Builder, Experiential Exercise, Writing for Understanding, Response Groups, and Problem Solving Groupwork) are based on these five well-established theories:
- Understanding by Design
- Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe believe that teaching for deep understanding must begin with planning the big ideas students should learn. That’s why you’ll see an Essential Question at the start of every chapter.
- Nonlinguistic Representation
- Research by Robert Marzano and colleagues demonstrates that teaching with nonlinguistic activities helps improve comprehension. Graphic organizers and movement activities are key to TCI lessons.
- Multiple Intelligences
- Howard Gardner believes that all students are intelligent—just not in the same ways. TCI activities address Gardner’s seven intelligences: verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, body-kinesthetic, musical-rhythmic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.
- Cooperative Interaction
- Elizabeth Cohen’s research shows that cooperative groupwork leads to learning gains and higher student achievement. Working in small groups is a cornerstone of TCI activities.
- Spiral Curriculum
- Jerome Bruner championed the idea of the spiral curriculum, in which students learn progressively—understanding increasingly difficult concepts through a process of step-by-step discovery. TCI questioning strategies spiral from simple recall to higher-order thinking skills such as analysis and evaluation.
In a Problem Solving Groupwork activity, students create interactive exhibits on a day in the life of a modern president for four presidential libraries and museums.
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