General Education
In every learning situation assumptions are made about the learner's ability to learn, their cognitive abilities. When the student meets these assumptions, learning is relatively easy. But when the learner does not meet these assumptions, learning can be difficult or even impossible. In order to best equip a student for learning we need to insure that he or she has developed the cognitive abilities assumed by the learning situation.
These cognitive abilities are very specific and very specifically related to different learning tasks. Thus, the cognitive abilities necessary for learning to read are not the same as the cognitive abilities necessary for learning mathematics. The SOI approach, then, is to prepare students for learning tasks by insuring that they have developed the necessary cognitive abilities.