The Potential of Prospective Teachers Experiencing Differentiated Instruction in a Mathematics Course

Michelle T Chamberlin

doi:10.29333/iejme/265

Abstract

Differentiated instruction is a promising approach for supporting the diverse needs of students. To support prospective teachers with the challenge of implementing differentiated instruction in their future instruction and to meet their diverse needs as college students, we decided to incorporate differentiated instruction in our mathematics content course for them. The specific objective of this study was then to examine how the prospective elementary teachers experienced differentiated instruction in the mathematics content course, whether it met their varying instructional needs, and how it may impact their future mathematics teaching. Qualitative and quantitative analyses revealed that the prospective teachers found the differentiated instruction supportive of their diverse needs and that they plan to incorporate similar features in their future instruction. However, the prospective teachers' comments did reveal additional aspects about differentiated instruction to learn and strengthen. Suggestions for revising the mathematics content course and enhancing the differentiated instruction are provided along with directions for further research.

Highlights

In contemporary classrooms worldwide, students have many diverse instructional needs, including different abilities, interests, learning styles, and cultural backgrounds
The treatment group‟s scores were consistent with characteristics of differentiated instruction, revealing that the instruction from the students‟ perspectives appeared to meet many of their diverse needs
The course appears to have met the recommendation of Daempfle (20032004), who stated following an analysis of the literature on undergraduate attrition from science, mathematics, and engineering majors, that: Undergraduate science, mathematics, and engineering instruction should shift from simple knowledge transmission to actively and cooperatively engaging students

Summary

Introduction

Students have many diverse instructional needs, including different abilities, interests, learning styles, and cultural backgrounds. Most teachers, including prospective teachers, struggle with addressing learner variance in the classroom For these two reasons, we decided to incorporate differentiated instruction in our offering of an undergraduate mathematics course for prospective elementary teachers. Planning is proactive; the teacher designs lessons that address learner variance from the outset rather than relying on adjustments during real-time Teachers differentiate their instruction with regard to content, learning process, or learning product. We decided to incorporate differentiated instruction in our mathematics content course for prospective teachers for two reasons: (a) to possibly address the diverse needs of these college students, and (b) to potentially assist them with implementing differentiated instruction in their future mathematics teaching. Just as with grade kindergarten-12 students, college students are diverse with regard to their backgrounds and instructional needs They too differ by academic preparation, interests, age, learning styles, and cultural backgrounds. Eleven percent of undergraduates reported having a disability (Horn & Nevill, 2006)

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