0

tandfonline.com – The meanings of differentiated instruction in the narratives of Eritrean teachers

tandfonline.com har udgivet en rapport under søgningen “Teacher Education Mathematics”: ABSTRACT ABSTRACT The principles of inclusive education largely accepted by governments of different countries require differentiated classroom instruction to meet the diverse needs of individual students. Despite this, teachers have differing experiences and understandings about implementing differentiated instruction (DI) and heterogeneous classrooms. This narrative study aimed at exploring the meanings of DI in the Eritrean context, where teachers are not explicitly familiar with the concept, although their teaching practices reflect some level of differentiation. The research data consisted of 17 narrative interviews with Eritrean mathematics and science teachers. The results of the narrative analysis showed that the teachers constructed five meanings of DI in their narratives: as a caring orientation, as a flexible pedagogic approach, as a self-reflective process, as… Continue Reading

0

tandfonline.com – Teachers’ learning and sense-making processes in the context of an innovation: a two year follow-up study

tandfonline.com har udgivet en rapport under søgningen “Teacher Education Mathematics”: ABSTRACT ABSTRACT To better align teacher learning with teachers’ learning needs, teachers’ sense-making of an innovation during which teachers experimented with differentiated instruction was studied during two school years. Using answers to a questionnaire, 15 teachers’ sense-making processes were characterised by three types of search for meaning: assimilation, adaptation, and toleration. We further specified the teachers’ sense-making through their experienced sources of ambiguity and uncertainty (limited resources and conflicting goals) and a detailed description of their personal frames of reference. We concluded that the teachers varied in their types of search for meaning during both school years, though most teachers were found to use assimilation in the second school year. Their experienced sources of ambiguity and uncertainty and their personal… Continue Reading

0

tandfonline.com – A teachers’ professional development programme to implement differentiated instruction in secondary education: How far do teachers reach?

tandfonline.com har udgivet en rapport under søgningen “Teacher Education Mathematics”: Abstract Abstract This study explores how four teacher teams introduced differentiated instruction into their practice. It draws on Tomlinson’s conceptualisation of differentiated instruction to respond to diversity in their classroom. The aim of this study is to document to which extent participating teachers achieved in doing so. A participatory action research design was set up. First teachers were trained to respond to heterogeneity aided by a tailor-made professional development program. Second an implementing period followed in which the participants worked collaboratively in teacher teams and were coached while implementing differentiated instruction. Field notes and interview transcripts (n = 20) with participants were collected. These were analysed thematically. Results show that teachers succeeded in implementing a range of strategies associated with differentiated instruction.… Continue Reading

0

tandfonline.com – Capturing the complexity of differentiated instruction

tandfonline.com har udgivet en rapport under søgningen “Teacher Education Mathematics”: ABSTRACT ABSTRACT Providing differentiated instruction (DI) is considered an important but complex teaching skill which many teachers have not mastered and feel unprepared for. In order to design professional development activities, a thorough description of DI is required. The international literature on assessing teachers’ differentiation qualities describes the use of various instruments, ranging from self-reports to observation schemes and from perceived-difficulty instruments to student questionnaires. We question whether these instruments truly capture the complexity of differentiation. In order to depict this complexity, a cognitive task analysis (CTA) of the differentiation skill was performed. The resulting differentiation skill hierarchy is presented here, together with the knowledge required for differentiation, and the factors influencing its complexity. Based on the insights of this… Continue Reading