Educational Psychology / Unit 13 EDP 1210 review, 2 to 3 minutes
Individual Differences in One Classroom
The idea
A single classroom holds the whole range of individual differences this course has traced, and the evidence points to a consistent way of responding to them. Intelligence can be described as one general factor or as several abilities, and scores are read on the normal curve, where most students fall near the middle and fewer lie toward either tail. At the tails are intellectual disability, defined by limits in both intellectual and adaptive functioning, and giftedness, now broadened beyond an IQ cut-off. Learning disabilities and ADHD are specific conditions, not low intelligence. Grouping by ability helps within classes and for specific subjects, but not through between-class tracking. Learning styles are preferences, and matching instruction to a diagnosed style has virtually no evidence behind it. Universal Design for Learning varies presentation, expression and engagement for everyone from the outset.
In practice
Worked example: a fifth-grade class includes a student with an IQ score of 132, a student with a specific learning disability in reading, a student with ADHD and an English learner. The teacher designs a unit on ecosystems with a diagram, a captioned video and a text, lets students show learning in writing, drawing or a recorded talk, and uses flexible reading groups within the class. The gifted student works on an accelerated extension; the student with a learning disability receives the supports written into the IEP; the student with ADHD uses a self-monitoring checklist. No student is labeled by a learning style.
Where people slip
The research does not support sorting students into fixed categories for all instruction, whether by learning style or by between-class tracking. It does support knowing each student's needs, designing for variety from the start, and grouping flexibly for specific purposes. Every group difference leaves wide individual variation, so each student is taught as an individual.
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