ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the significance of integrating higher-order process skills with advanced content in curriculum and instruction as part of an effort to challenge and engage advanced learners. The chapter addresses the value of explicitly teaching the components of specific thinking processes and engaging students in practicing and reflecting on those components. The importance of integrating process skills with appropriately advanced content is also discussed, with emphasis on ensuring challenge and transfer of learning. Three fundamental thinking processes – critical thinking, creative thinking, and problem solving – are explored using specific teaching models and domain-specific examples. Applications of these processes in curriculum based on the Integrated Curriculum Model are described. The chapter also emphasizes scaffolding and questioning strategies and frameworks that teachers can use to guide, support, and challenge student thinking.
