ABSTRACT
Before, during, and after extended approaches, including those presented in the previous chapter, students also benefit from having a variety experiences that further support application and transfer of learning. Suggestions for expanding teachers’ repertoire of instructional practices are provided in this chapter, and they not only complement well-planned instructional lessons and thematic units but also support teachable moments. Among the considerations is inquiry dialogue, which involves intellectually rigorous discussions that weigh the strengths and flaws of one another’s arguments based on challenging criteria. Open-ended and inclusive questions are also important for increasing students’ participation during critical-thinking conversations that support genuine inquiry, analysis, and assessment. Providing students with more wait time complements the process of deep thinking, and it can motivate them to ask their own thoughtful questions during classroom conversations and assignments. Another way of deepening, refining, and extending learning is to engage students in learning journals that support their personal reflections and academic thoughts written in different types of text, including traditional print, digital text, blogs, artistic illustrations, and other multimodal forms. These strategies and activities further support students’ growth and development in higher interactive thinking skills (HITS) and their application to novel settings, resulting in transfer of learning.
