Integrative Model

 Integrative Model

The purpose of the integrative model is to help students make sense of complex and rich relationships found in your discipline. The model supports critical thinking strategies while helping students learn specific concepts, facts, and generalizations. 

Steps of the Model 

1. Plan for the Integrative model (the teacher does this step before class). 
• Identify your topic and target generalizations. 
• Prepare a data set for your students. "Data" is any form of input you provide for them to analyze. It may be a set of numbers, photographs, words, pictures, maps, musical phrases, video clips, poems, dialogues, etc. 
2. Describe, compare, and search for patterns in the data set. 
• Begin the lesson by providing necessary background information on the topic. 
• Then ask the students to describe what they see in the data set. What patterns do they notice? What similarities and differences? 
3. Explain the identified similarities and differences. 
• Students clearly articulate the similarities and differences they have found. This requires deeper analysis than step 2. 
• Students should document what they found in step 2 with direct reference to the data source. In other words, they should defend their findings. 
4. Hypothesize what would happen under different conditions. 
• You now provide a situation in which conditions change, and ask students to hypothesize a new outcome. 
• Students should explain their hypotheses and conclusions. 
5. Make broad generalizations about the topic and the discussion. 
• Students summarize and synthesize the discussion and make broad generalizations about the topic. 

Formative assessment is offered at each step of the model through question and answer. Students should be accountable for individual summaries and generalizations about the topic (step 5). This can be done through journal entries, exit slips, working through additional problems, etc. Evaluation criteria may include the number and quality of the comparisons and the logic and quality of the explanations. 

Differentiation can be met by manipulating the data set to meet the needs of individual students, by varying the level of complexity and abstraction, or by highlighting specific pieces of information to play to student interest. Students may be part of developing the data sets by putting together matrices or graphs  to be explored. Questions are also a powerful differentiation tool because questions can be personalized.