Higher-order Thinking

Drawing for Meaning

Drawing for Meaning

The ability to start to engage with text and ideas by drawing, such as with the Drawing Canvas feature in CARS & STARS Online, form an important milestone on the way to developing higher-order thinking skills, and being able to engage with text and ideas in a more complex, abstract way.

Reading and Problem Solving

Reading and Problem Solving

Students who approach reading as a problem-solving activity take an active and strategic approach to reading. CARS & STARS Online gives students the tools to solve the problems of reading – and become proficient interpreters of any kind of text at the same time.

Reading Strategies Help Every Reader

Reading Strategies Help Every Reader

Comprehension strategies, like those underpinning the whole of CARS & STARS Online, help students become purposeful, active readers that are in control of their own reading comprehension and able to think critically about text in any context.

Writing Improves Reading Too

Writing Improves Reading Too

Writing responses is the highest level of comprehension because students can communicate their learning and viewpoints, demonstrating the extent of their knowledge about a text and articulating their own learning. This is a valuable insight for teachers and a pivotal part of the STARS module of CARS & STARS Online, and FOCUS Reading, with their goal of making all students better readers.

Strategies for Learning

Strategies for Learning

The core reading strategies that underpin the entirety of the CARS & STARS Online digital reading comprehension program form an underlying instructional framework that recurs throughout every level and provides consistency of understanding and instruction to students and teachers alike.