Educational Psychology / Unit 10 EDP 0912 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Differentiated Instruction
The idea
Differentiated instruction, associated with Carol Ann Tomlinson, varies four things according to three student characteristics while keeping the same essential goals for everyone. Teachers can vary content, what students learn and the materials; process, the activities through which they learn; product, how they show what they learned; and affect or learning environment, the climate and setting. They vary these according to students' readiness, their interests and their learning profile. Formative assessment, checking during learning, tells the teacher how to differentiate next.
In practice
Worked example: a class studying the water cycle shares one goal. Students who are ready read a technical article, while others read an illustrated text, which differentiates content by readiness. A student fascinated by weather tracks local rainfall, which differentiates process by interest. Students may show learning in a diagram, a report or a model, which differentiates product.
Where people slip
The goals stay the same; the routes differ. "Learning profile" means varied ways of learning and showing learning, not matching lessons to diagnosed learning styles, which research does not support.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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