-          A less crowded curriculum

-          Contextualised learning

-          Making learning appropriate to various learning styles

-          Making connections easier between subjects and in real world contexts

-          Providing students with a sense of ownership over their learning

-          Enhancing students’ skills across subjects and in real world contexts, and 

-          Providing opportunities for students to develop and practice their thinking skills in different contexts. (p. ?)

Similarly, many writers, including Barton and Smith (2000), Hamston and Murdoch (1996), Leopp (1999) and Ward (1996) believe that an integrated curriculum:

-          Makes learning easier to understand for children who don’t learn in a “fragmented or compartmentalised manner”;

-          Allows more flexibility in terms of time dedicated to each subject;

-          Encourages students and teachers to develop more efficient means of teaching and learning, and

-          Contextualises learning and assists in developing big ideas (as cited in Gordon, 2014, p. ?)

-          The essential question: This is an open-ended question designed to promote thinking and discussion which poses the purpose of a learning unit. 

-          Unit questions: Similar to the essential question, unit questions are more direct open-ended questions designed to guide the learning unit. 

-          Content questions: These questions often have a right or wrong answer as they are designed to gather information and facts relating to the essential question. They provide the information required to answer the unit questions as well as the essential question. 

This model considers open-ended questions as a means to develop critical thinking skills and contextualise learning.