Differentiated Instruction Strategies Research Articles

Addressing student diversity to improve mathematics achievement through differentiated instruction

Managing student diversity is one of the issues that occur in mathematics education. Students typically achieve poorly in school if it is not appropriately addressed. Therefore, differentiated instruction (DI) strategies were used in mathematics classes to address the issue. This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of DI strategies in addressing student diversity and raising mathematics proficiency levels. DI was carefully implemented in one school using the plan-do-study-act methodology. Data were gathered via test scores, questionnaires, and interviews, and professionals in the field of mathematics education verified the content validity of the said instruments. The study discovered that more incredible mathematics achievement resulted from addressing student diversity. Mathematics classes were better delivered and adapted to students’ learning styles using DI. However, mathematics teachers faced difficulties like lengthy preparation, poor classroom management, large class sizes, and a lack of resources.

‘I never feel like I am prepared enough’: Teachers' self‐efficacy, challenges and experiences teaching students with disabilities

AbstractThis article investigated teachers' self‐efficacy, educational practices, challenges and support for students with disabilities in the inclusive classroom. Students with disabilities face many adversities today, such as rejection, stigma, discrimination and lack of support in the classroom. We employed an interdisciplinary and pluralistic approach (Baglieri et al., 2011; Connor et al., 2011) embedded in disability studies in education (DSE) and self‐efficacy theory to explore in‐service teachers' experiences in the field of inclusive education. We used a phenomenological approach and conducted eight teachers' semi‐structured interviews and classroom observations. We used purposeful sampling among teachers who work with students with disabilities. We used inductive analysis techniques to analyse the qualitative data collected from interviews and classroom observations. This study's findings reveal the importance of teachers' preparation, attitude and self‐efficacy to support students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms; the use of differentiated instruction strategies to meet the student's needs and increase their academic outcomes; and highlight the challenges, which include the lack of professional development, lack collaboration among teachers lack of parents' communication and lack of regular IEP meeting.

The Influence of Positive Discipline, Differentiated Instruction Strategies, and Learning Motivation on the Learning Outcomes of Buddhist Religious Education

This study aims to examine and understand the influence of positive discipline, differentiated instruction strategies, and learning motivation on the learning outcomes of Buddhist Religious Education students at Maitreyawira Private High Schools throughout Indonesia. This research uses a quantitative method. Data collection was conducted by distributing questionnaires consisting of positive discipline variables, differentiated instruction strategies, learning motivation, and learning outcomes using multiple linear regression analysis techniques. The total sample taken was 92 students from Maitreyawira Private High Schools across Indonesia (Palembang, Batam, Deli Serdang, Tanjung Pinang, Jakarta, and Kisaran) out of a total population of 1,089. The results of this study show that by comparing the values of tcount > ttable (2.687 > 1.662), positive discipline has a partial positive and significant effect on the Buddhist education learning outcomes of Maitreyawira High School students; Furthermore, looking at the comparison of tcount > ttable (2.162 > 1.662), the differentiated instruction strategies have a partially positive and significant effect on the Buddhist Education learning outcomes of Maitreyawira High School students; with a comparison of tcount > ttable (7.280 > 1.662), learning motivation has a partially positive and significant effect on the Buddhist Education learning outcomes of Maitreyawira High School students; and the results of the f test where fcount > ftable (64.881 > 2.71) shows that positive discipline, differentiated instruction strategies and learning motivation have a positive and significant effect simultaneously on learning outcomes.

English Teachers’ Perceptions and Practices of Differentiated Instruction (DI) in the Merdeka Curriculum

This research project investigated the use of DI by teachers and confirmed their practices to learn more about teachers' perceptions using a qualitative approach. Four research instruments were used to collect data in this investigation: document analyses, classroom observations, questionnaires, and interviews. Document analyses and classroom observations were employed to obtain data concerning teachers' actual practices of DI. In the meantime, a questionnaire has been used to obtain data on teachers' perceptions and practices regarding DI. Finally, interviews have also been conducted to determine teachers' perceptions of DI. The result of the study revealed that the participants exhibited high proficiency in using DI strategies in their classrooms. The assessment considered various dimensions, including understanding DI concepts and objectives, adapting instruction to diverse student needs, evaluating students through diagnostic assessments, and aligning teaching strategies with individual learning profiles. However, there was room for improvement, especially in tailoring instruction based on diverse learning profiles. Furthermore, the English teachers' perceptions of DI significantly shaped their instructional practices. While there was a solid theoretical understanding and commitment to personalized instruction, practical challenges and systemic constraints impacted the seamless integration of DI principles. The teachers' commitment to addressing these challenges, demonstrated through varied instructional practices, underscored the dynamic interplay between perceptions and the complex reality of implementing DI in the classroom.
 Keywords: English Teacher, Differentiated Instruction (DI), Merdeka Curriculum, Perceptions and Practices

ENGLISH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVES OF DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION PRACTICES IN KURIKULUM MERDEKA

This study proposes to explore English Junior High School teachers’ and students’ perspectives of differentiated instruction practices in Kurikulum Merdeka. The study conducted a descriptive qualitative approach. Three teachers and 3 classes of each grade of Junior High School students were selected to become participants in this study. The data were gathered through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. The result of this study revealed that all teachers and most of the students had positive perspectives on the use of Differentiated Instruction in the classes. That was indicated from their positive thoughts on their planning and implementation that Differentiated instruction became an effective and engaging learning practice in the classroom. The teachers planned the lesson with different stages but with the same topic. The teachers are evaluated as good practitioners for students in practicing Differentiated Instruction. And most of the students had positive feedback on their experiences and found when the teachers implemented differentiated instruction strategies in their classes, they could overcome their learning difficulties. All this result leads to the alignment of the differentiated instruction practices that should be implemented in any classroom activities

Optimizing the Use of Differentiated Instruction Strategies to Accommodate Diverse Student Needs

Education at school is very important for a student to develop the potential he has. To maximize this potential, a strategy is needed that suits the needs of each student. Teachers are required to recognize and understand the various characteristics of students, in order to maximize the strategies needed by students. For this reason, the use of the Differented Instruction strategy is utilized to accommodate the diverse needs of these students. The Differented Instruction strategy is a method used to adapt the various characteristics of students to learning and assessment, which does not only use one strategy but combines several suitable strategies. The purpose of this research is to find out that optimizing the use of Differentiated Instruction strategies is very beneficial for the diverse needs of students. By maximizing this strategy can have a major positive impact on the development of student education. As proficient they optimize their abilities to be more productive and creative. The method used in this research is a quantitative research method. The data obtained is through the distribution of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was made using the Google form application. The results of this study explain that optimizing the use of Differentiated Instruction strategies to accommodate the diverse needs of students in order to maximize their own potential, understand how to do assignments in a fun way, and be able to learn according to the needs of each student with a variety of backgrounds. So that the various knowledge given by the teacher can be absorbed optimally. The conclusion from this study is that optimizing the use of Differentiated Instruction strategies to accommodate student needs is very effectively used in learning. The limitation of this research is that researchers only conduct this research at the school/madrasah level which incidentally requires a new strategy in learning such as the use of this Differentiated Instruction strategy.

Using Differentiated Instruction to Foster Algebraic Thinking in Classrooms

This quasi experiment sought to use strategies of differentiated instruction (DI) to foster algebraic reasoning of Junior High School (JHS) year 2 students in the Winneba municipality, Ghana. The study employed Solomon four group sampling technique to collect pre-test and post-test data from 337 students. After the treatment, the independent -test on the post-test gave the results ( ) and ( ) with indicating that, there was a significant difference between the achievement score of the experimental and control groups. The calculated effect size between the means of the experimental and control groups was approximately 0.7, an indication that the effect of DI strategies is large. It was recommended that, DI strategies should be employed in Ghanaian classroom to improve students’ algebraic thinking.

Differentiated instruction in the EFL classroom: An interview study on Hungarian primary and secondary school EFL teachers' views and self-reported practices

AbstractIn recent decades, there have been growing expectations for language teachers to use differentiated instruction (DI) in their classrooms to address the diverse needs of their students. Currently, however, relatively little is known about how teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) working in Hungarian public education view the concept of DI and implement it in practice. The present study sought to explore this question by interviewing eight Hungarian primary and secondary school EFL teachers on their views and practices of DI. More specifically, the study strove to explore the participants' understanding of and attitude towards DI as well as the differentiation strategies they report to use and the challenges and enablers they perceive when implementing DI. The data were subjected to template analysis. Results suggest that teachers have a solid understanding of the goals of DI and show a primarily positive attitude towards the approach but are less conscious about the strategies available to them and tend to differentiate mostly intuitively. They perceive challenges both in planning and delivering differentiated lessons, such as coping with increased preparation time and having to multitask in class. Exchanging good practices in formal and informal training sessions, cooperating with colleagues and parents, and having rearrangeable furniture and digital tools in the classrooms emerged as enablers of DI. Implications point toward the need for professional development opportunities that help teachers conceptualize their intuitive approaches and extend their repertoire of DI strategies. Researching how technology may enhance DI practices also appears to be warranted.

Differentiation in practice: an exploratory investigation in an Australian mainstream secondary school

ABSTRACT This study is the second in a planned series of qualitative inquiries to investigate how some Australian educators use differentiated instruction (DI) in a secondary school setting. A small-scale study was conducted using individual, semi-structured interviews with seven teachers and two school leaders via Teams, a video conferencing platform. Using thematic analysis, two major themes were identified in the data, namely: perceptions of DI and key guiding DI principles. Results indicated that teachers and school leaders have a good understanding of differentiation and are responsive to the needs of the diversity of student abilities in this educational setting. This includes pedagogies such as designing learning activities to maximise educative opportunities for all students, pre-planning lessons and collecting student data to inform teachers’ understanding and capacity to plan for student readiness differences, using scaffolded formative and summative assessment, arranging flexible learning groups, and employing adaptable teaching processes that support all learners. The findings are a starting point to further explore and expand on how Australian educators use DI strategies and approaches in their mainstream schools.

Planning for Differentiated Instruction: Empowering Teacher Candidates in STEM Education.

Differentiated instruction (DI) is an inclusive method of instruction by which teachers provide multiple possibilities for learning based on students' backgrounds, readiness, interests, and profiles. Acknowledging student diversity in Canadian classrooms, this study explores STEM teacher candidates' (TCs') preparation to implement DI in a STEM curriculum and pedagogy course in a teacher education program. The course is enriched with DI resources and training focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). The course efficacy in enhancing TCs' implementation of DI is explored through the following research questions: (1) What is the impact of the course on TCs' implementation of DI, (2) How do TCs develop curricula to be inclusive of DI strategies, and (3) What successes and challenges do TCs encounter when developing DI-focused curricula? The study adopts a mixed-method approach, in which data sources include pre-post questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Participants are 19 TCs enrolled in the second year of the teacher education program at a Canadian university. Findings suggest that the course empowered TCs to integrate DI principles and strategies in their coursework. This success reiterates the importance of opportunities aimed at enhancing teachers' preparation to incorporate DI in their practices. The findings call for adopting similar approaches in pre-service and in-service teachers' training to ensure that DI principles and strategies are deeply rooted in teachers' practices. The study informs teacher educators about integrating EDI in teacher education programs' curriculum and overall planning.

Improving Engagement through Enhanced Inclusive Practices to Teach Science for Secondary School Students with Autism

Students with autism are often neglected in a classroom setting within schools. Thereby, this proposed study will focus on using cooperative learning and differentiated instruction strategies to help year level 7 to 9 students with autism to initiate better conversations and social interactions within a classroom, and further utilise science inquiry-based lessons and group-oriented tasks to better understand the contents.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Differentiated Instruction Strategies in Diverse Classrooms

The study's primary objective is to learn how well differentiated techniques perform in inclusive classroom settings. Formative evaluation was used in this study. This entails checking in on students' progress during the unit of study to make any necessary adjustments to their education. The research demonstrates that kids have varied learning styles, interests, and demands, and it aims to build a learning environment that caters to the requirements of all students. Differentiating education in inclusive classrooms can be accomplished in a number of ways, such as through the use of flexible grouping, tiered assignments, modifications to the learning environment, and the application of multiple pedagogical approaches.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION: PRODUCTIVE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT WITH HIGH SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

The Differentiated Instruction (DI) approach addresses individual learner`s needs in a mixed ability class by focusing instruction on student learning profiles. The purpose of this study was to describe the effects of the implementation of four DI strategies suggested by Herrera (2011) in order to analyze their impact on students’ productive skills within two different educational settings: the high school and university. A total of 105 students and two English teachers participated in this study. An online survey assessed learners’ perceptions of the DI strategies. The results confirmed that the 4 DI strategies implemented in both settings had a positive effect on the development of students’ writing and speaking skills. This study concluded that there is not a universal, one-size-fits-all strategy for teaching that includes all students. In-depth knowledge of students’ needs, and interests is a starting point for addressing instruction in a more effective way. Finally, the DI approach is starting to emerge in Ecuadorian EFL classrooms, and teachers are showing interest in applying the corresponding strategies as an aid to student learning.

Mathematics Teachers’ Views and Use of Differentiated Instruction: The case of two teachers in the Winneba Municipality, Ghana

To ensure that the global sustainable development goal on education is achieved, the implementation of differentiated instruction (DI) is beginning to gain attention in the Ghanaian education system. But is Ghana embracing and implementing DI effectively in the mathematics classroom? This paper investigated two junior high school (JHS) mathematics teachers’ views and use of DI in their mathematics classrooms. Qualitative data obtained through observations and semi-structured interviews in an embedded mixed methods study that employed the Solomon four group quasi-experiment design were analyzed and in this report. The results show that teachers used flexible grouping, tiered assignment, end of unit assignments, worksheets and ICT tools (though extremely challenging) as the convenient DI strategies. The interview data after the experiment disclosed that, DI impacted students’ performance positively. However, the data showed that DI is time consuming, extremely challenging, expensive and required resources not readily available in public schools. Recommendations are made for the embracing of convenient strategies of DI in Ghanaian classrooms.

Differentiated instruction effectiveness on the secondary stage students’ reading comprehension proficiency level in Jordan

<p><span>Differentiated instruction (DI) is a teaching approach involves several strategies in which teachers adapt, modify, adjust and change instruction to respond to students’ diverse individual needs in heterogeneous classrooms. The study aimed at exploring the effectiveness of DI on secondary stage students’ proficiency level. The study followed the quantitative quasi-experimental design in which data were collected from the pre/post achievement tests administered at the initiation and the completion of the intervention. A total of 80 grade 11 students from both genders participated in the study. A number of (N=40) males and (N=40) females from four public schools in Jordan were distributed into (N=40) for the experimental group and another (N=40) from both genders for the control groups. The experimental group received education using DI strategies of homogeneous groups, tiered assignments and tiered instruction in the areas of content, process, product and learning environment. Conversely, the control groups received education through the one-size-fits-all method. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) results showed that DI affected reading comprehension scores positively, and the respondents of the experimental groups outperformed their counterparts of the control group. Moreover, the above-average respondents statistically outperformed the other proficiency levels. However, the findings indicated no statistically significant difference related to gender.</span></p>

Smart classroom preferences and information literacy among college students

In recent years, smart classrooms have been widely constructed in colleges and universities. To help the design of student-centred smart classroom in compliance with students’ information literacy levels and enable all students to adapt to the smart classroom smoothly, this study utilised a quantitative method to investigate the information literacy and preferences for smart classroom learning environments (PSCLE) of 873 Chinese college students. The results indicated statistically significant effects of college students’ information literacy on the eight dimensions of students’ PSCLE (student negotiation, inquiry learning, reflective thinking, usefulness, ease of use, multiple sources, connectedness, functional design). In addition, three profiles could be identified regarding students’ information literacy. Students with a high level of information literacy obtained significantly higher scores on four of the critical dimensions of PSCLE (student negotiation, inquiry learning, reflective thinking and functional design) than those students with medium or low levels of information literacy. Based on the results, we suggest that college students’ information literacy and their PSCLE should be considered by researchers and education practitioners when designing, constructing and evaluating smart classroom learning environments. Implications for practice or policy: Schools should evaluate students’ information literacy and equip smart classrooms with various information communication technology devices to cater to students’ varying levels of information literacy. Instructors or curriculum designers should develop differentiated instruction strategies and activities for students, in alignment with different levels of information literacy. Institutions and organisations should reconsider evaluation criteria for smart classrooms and incorporate the improvement of students’ information literacy as an important indicator.

Development and validation of customized pedagogical kits for high-school chemistry teaching and learning: the redox reaction example

Abstract In this paper, we describe the structure, development, and validation process of customized pedagogical kits (CPKs) for differentiated instruction (DI) in chemistry. The CPKs rely on the DI approach, comprising varied pedagogical activities (e.g., games, inquiry activities, puzzles, simulations, models) designed as treatments, to help chemistry teachers personalize their teaching according to students’ misconceptions. The kits are based on the response to intervention (RTI) model, where the teacher applies an ongoing evaluation to meet the individual student’s needs within an evolutionary flexible process of learning. Each kit includes a diagnostic task, its characterization, pedagogical treatments for diagnosed misconceptions, and an assessment task, to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatments implemented in the classroom. The kits are developed along relevant literature criteria for using DI strategies and are based on constant validation and ongoing assessment, as demonstrated in the Redox-reaction CPK development. The validation and impact of the CPK on students’ achievements are supported by 25 chemistry teachers that implemented the full kit in their classrooms. Furthermore, the CPKs developed in the present research have succeeded in resolving many of the difficulties and challenges mentioned in the literature as obstructing the implementation of DI.

Differentiated instruction strategies and their effect on the academic performance of students in teachers’ colleges

Differentiated instruction strategies and their effect on the academic performance of students in teachers’ colleges

Differentiated instruction strategies and their effect on the academic performance of students in teachers' colleges

Differentiated instruction strategies and their effect on the academic performance of students in teachers' colleges

Parent and Teacher Perspectives on Differentiated Instruction for Inclusion of Children with Autism in India

This study aimed to provide insights into the knowledge and awareness of applying Differentiated Instruction (DI) as an interventional tool for teaching children with Autism in mainstream schools, and thereby encouraging inclusive teaching practices. A mixed-methods approach was implemented with a purposive sample of stakeholders. These included mainstream teachers, special educators and parents. The research was conducted using questionnaires (distribution N=188) and 31 semi-structured interviews with respondents from a sample of six mainstream schools in Chennai, India. The findings suggest that stakeholders’ view DI strategies as being helpful and applicable for children with Autism. However, apprehensions were expressed, as DI strategies require planning, preparation, effort from teachers and support of other staff members. Teachers suggested the need for formal training in the implementation of DI strategies as this is a new teaching technique to many. Investigation of this evidence-based approach (DI) is a novel study within an Asian context and adds to the knowledge base of mainstream school teachers, special educators, parents and other support staff