Which educational approach emphasizes teaching big ideas and concepts?

The educational approach that emphasizes teaching big ideas and concepts is associated with mediated scaffolding. This approach focuses on providing support and guidance to learners to help them grasp broader concepts and their applications. Through mediated scaffolding, educators actively engage students in meaningful learning experiences that connect to larger themes or ideas, facilitating deeper understanding and retention.

Mediated scaffolding involves the strategic use of tools or resources to bridge the gap between what students already know and what they need to learn. This method encourages critical thinking and allows students to explore relationships between key concepts, thereby enriching their learning experience. The emphasis on big ideas ensures that learning is not just about memorizing facts but about understanding how various concepts interrelate and can be applied in different contexts.

Other approaches, while beneficial in their own rights, do not specifically prioritize the teaching of overarching concepts in the same manner. Each has a different focus: formative assessment is designed to monitor and improve learning throughout the instructional process, judicious review emphasizes practicing and reinforcing content, and strategic instruction focuses on teaching students how to learn and apply strategies effectively. None of these primarily concentrate on big ideas and concepts to the same extent as mediated scaffolding does.