66
Region IV Science Conference Differentiated Instruction, Technology, and 21 st Century Learning Presented by Robert and Stacy Williams 45 Minutes 2/19/2011
Region IV Science Conference
Differentiated Instruction, Technology, and 21st Century Learning
Presented by Robert and Stacy Williams 45 Minutes 2/19/2011
Region IV Conference Introduction
Video Welcome
AGENDA
1. 21st Century Learners
2. “The Good Ol’ Days” vs. “The Future”
3. A Vision of 21st Century Education
4. What is Differentiated Instruction?
5. DI Philosophies vs. Strategies
6. KUDs
7. Differentiated Instruction in the Secondary Science Classroom
Consider Rip Van Winkle….
Rip Van Winkle awakens in the 21st century after a hundred-year snooze and is, of course, utterly bewildered by what he sees. Men and women
dash about, talking to small metal devices pinned to their ears. Young people sit at home on sofas, moving miniature athletes around on electronic screens. Older folk defy death and
disability with metronomes in their chests and with hips made of metal and plastic. Airports,
hospitals, shopping malls--every place Rip goes just baffles him.
But when he finally walks into a schoolroom, the old man knows exactly where he is.
"This is a school," he declares. "We used to have these back in 1906.
Only now the blackboards are white."
“American schools aren't exactly frozen in time, but considering the pace of change in other
areas of life, our public schools tend to feel like throwbacks. Kids spend much of the day as their
great-grandparents once did: sitting in rows, listening to teachers lecture, scribbling notes by
hand, reading from textbooks that are out of date by the time they are printed.
A yawning chasm (with an emphasis on yawning) separates the world inside the schoolhouse from
the world outside.”
“For the past five years, the national conversation on education has focused on reading scores, math tests and closing the "achievement gap" between
social classes. This is not a story about that conversation. This is a story about the big public
conversation the nation is not having about education, the one that will ultimately determine not merely whether some fraction of our children
get "left behind" but also whether an entire generation of kids will fail to make the grade in the global economy because they can't think their way
through abstract problems, work in teams, distinguish good information from bad or speak a
language other than English.” Time Magazine, By Claudia Wallis Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568480,00.html
Kids also must learn to think across disciplines, since that's where most new breakthroughs are made. It's
interdisciplinary combinations--design and technology, mathematics and art--"that produce
YouTube and Google," says Thomas Friedman, the best-selling author of The World Is Flat.
The “Good Ol’ Days”
Good For Whom?
Video
A Vision of 21st Century Education
by BJ Nesbit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8
21st Century Education
21st Century Education
21st Century Education
What Is
What Is
Differentiated Instruction IS NOT. . .
Just another strategy
Differentiated Instruction IS NOT. . .
Insert
funny teacher rant video
Differentiated Instruction IS NOT. . .
•Using only whole class instruction.
•Using small groups that never change.
•Using the same reading texts with all students.
•Using the same independent seatwork assignments for the entire class.
Differentiated Instruction IS. . .
•Using assessment data to plan instruction and group students.
•Teaching targeted small groups (1:3, 1:5).
•Using flexible grouping (changing group membership based on student progress, interests, and needs).
•Matching instructional materials to student ability. (Lexiles)
•Tailoring instruction to address student needs.
Differentiated instruction is a way of thinking about teaching and learning. Differentiating instruction involves providing students with different avenues to acquiring content; to processing, constructing, or making sense of ideas; and to developing teaching products so that all students within a classroom can learn effectively, regardless of differences in ability. Differentiated instruction is the process of "ensuring that what a student learns, how he/she learns it, and how the student demonstrates what he/she has learned is a match for that student's readiness level, interests, and preferred mode of learning". ~ Carol Ann Tomlinson
Audio from Differentiated Instruction at Kahla video
Planning for Differentiated Instruction Audio from ASCD Differentiated Instruction in Action. Voice of Carol Ann Tomlinson.
What's All the Hype?
Unfortunately, our images of school are almost factory images, so school is very standardized. But kids don't come in standard issue. The challenge is having teachers question the standardized notion of school and then helping kids realize there's a better way to do school. Effective teachers have been differentiating instruction for as long as teaching has been a profession. It has to do with being sensitive to the needs of your students and finding ways to help students make the necessary connections for learning to occur in the best possible way. In this day and age, we have extensive research available to us to assist us in creating instructional environments that will maximize the learning opportunities that will assist students in developing the knowledge and skills necessary for achieving positive learning outcomes. (Carol Ann Tomlinson, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, Foundations, and Policy; The Curry School of Education, University of Virginia)
Differentiating Instruction to meet the needs of
students video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Z5HopHX-M
The Basic Principles of Differentiated Instruction
Students are different, and those differences can be used to help them learn. Students differ in their depth of knowledge of a subject, the ways they learn best, and the things that interest, excite and motivate them. Instruction can be responsive to students’ needs if teachers use diagnostic (formative) assessments often to find out where individual students are in their progression toward learning goals. Success is defined as individual growth. Classroom activities are respectful when they are interesting, engaging and appropriately challenging. In a differentiated classroom, students may have several options for taking in information, for processing, constructing, or making sense of ideas; and for demonstrating what they’ve learned. Students are often allowed to choose the approach they want to take to learning, based on their learning preferences. Many different classroom arrangements are used in a given week, including small group work, small groups led by the teacher, individual work, whole class discussions led by the teacher, whole class demonstrations of student work, etc. The assignment of students to groups is flexible, depending on the topic. Differentiated classrooms are not “tracked” nor are they completely independent, self-paced environments.
Non-Negotiables of Differentiated Instruction. Audio from ASCD Differentiated Instruction in Action. Voice of Carol Ann Tomlinson.
Five Conditions for Differentiated Instruction
A supportive learning environment is one where all students feel valued and respected. Relationships among students in this kind of learning community are important. Positive relationships between students and adults in the classroom are the basis for a supportive
learning environment.
Ongoing assessment for learning allows teachers to make instruction more responsive to the students’ needs. Pre-assessments let teachers know who already knows the subject and
might be able to move ahead, who might need some basic skill support, and what misconceptions students might have. Ongoing assessments, sometimes called "checks for
understanding," give teachers insight into student learning as the unit progresses, and allow them to make instructional decisions about the "next steps" for groups of students.
A high quality curriculum is one that focuses on the essential understandings and skills that
students must learn. In a differentiated classroom, all students are expected to learn the same content expectations, but they learn at different rates, with different amounts of
support, in different ways, and they express their learning differently.
Respectful tasks are ones that engage students, provide suitable challenges, and allow choices of how to gather information, process information, and present information.
A commitment to flexible grouping means that students might be grouped by common
interests one day, by common learning preferences another day, or by their readiness to learn a particular topic on another day. Differentiated classrooms are not tracked, but groups change often depending on the nature of the learning and the instructional activities.
How Do Students Differ?
•Prior Educational Experiences
•Skill Level (readiness)
•Learning Styles
•Personal Experiences
•Motivators (interests)
•Self-Management Skills
Differentiate instruction based on students' academic readiness
TIERED ASSIGNMENTS: When groups of students are at different places in their learning, you can customize assignments based on their readiness for moving ahead. These are often called tiered assignments. They are not a form a tracking, because students move in and out of the "tier" as their learning progresses, or when they move to a new topic where they have a different background. Or they choose their own level of challenge. To create tiered assignments: (1) identify the learning target for the assignment; (2) write a typical “grade level” task that is interesting, challenging and requires students to use the learning target; (3) study the pre-assessment data to identify the needs of struggling and advanced learners; (4) adjust at least one aspect of the assignment as needed – this can be the process, the content, the resources or the products.
The chart above is the teachers' planning tool. When you're ready to give the assignments to students,
put the tasks on cards and assign them individually based on student needs. A card might read (for the "identify"
level) “Write a multi-paragraph essay OR a detailed comparison chart that identifies uses of three types of irony (dramatic, verbal, situational) using your lecture
notes.”
After a brief assessment of learning up to that point, you can assign tiered assignments that provide additional review and new ways of thinking about the subject, to those who need extra time or support. You can also provide extension assignments to students who have master the content and can deepen and extend their understanding and proficiency in that topic. Conduct a brief formative assessment at some critical point in the unit. For those students who haven’t gotten the concepts or how to apply them yet, create supplemental tasks that focus their attention on difficult aspects of the topic. For those students who have gotten the concepts, create supplemental tasks that challenge them to apply the concepts in new ways or make connections to other topics. Allow students to choose whether they want extra help or want to do extensions. Remind them that they need to complete their chosen tasks successfully. Focus your attention on helping students who need it the most. Remember, these are flexible groups based on whether students understand the current topic. They are not permanent tracks.
A typical week in a high school physics class might look like this, with the differentiated instruction occurring on Thursday:
Differentiate instruction based on students' interests
PROJECT MENU: At the end of the unit, when students put everything together and produce the culminating performance assessment, you can provide a menu of options
based on their interests and learning preferences.
Here's an example for a unit on animal characteristics, behaviors and needs:
•Write a first-person story in which the main character is an animal who tries to live with humans. How well do you (as the animal) fit in with the humans? •Do a research study about an organization that is working to save endangered animals from extinction. Plan a campaign to save an animal you admire. Describe how the animal's needs and behaviors are affected by changes in their environment. •Read 10 or more poems about animals. Write poetry about animals that interest you. •Read about people who have tamed or lived with wild animals. Describe the characteristics such people have that make them good animal trainers or researchers. •Plan and present a debate about the merits of preserving a certain area for the use of its existing animals and plants. The other side of the debate would give reasons to develop the area into homes or shopping. •Pretend you’re an archaeologist who has just discovered the remains of an extinct animal. Share information about how the animal lived, why it became extinct, and how it might have been saved from extinction. •Imagine that your family acquires an unusual animal as a pet. Present information about some of the joys and challenges of having the animal. What is it like that is different from what you expected? •Create a composite animal with elements of several animals. Convince someone else that it’s the best animal in the world. •Create your own project.
As with tiered assignments, it is important to start with the end in mind – what are the
key ideas or skills you want students to demonstrate? Every project should allow students to show what they know about these key ideas and skills.
Differentiate instruction based on students' learning preferences
A task menu can be used to give options to students for the ways they will gather information, process information, and present information on a topic, based on their
learning preference. An example is below, showing how you could possibly differentiate instruction on "how to write a business letter." It uses Sternberg's Intelligences as one
way of thinking about learning preferences.
Sternberg's Intelligences:
Analytic Intelligence People with strengths in this area tend to do very well with school tasks such as making meaning of text material, organizing information, seeing cause and effect, taking notes,
and memorizing information.
Practical Intelligence People with strengths in this area learn well when they see how things work in the
world and how ideas and skills help solve problems. They learn better by using ideas rather than just learning ideas. They need to solve problems in a meaningful context.
Creative Intelligence
People with strengths in this area tend to come at ideas and problems in fresh and surprising ways. They prefer to experiment with ideas rather than work like everyone
else. They “think outside the box.”
CLARITY ABOUT CURRICULUM
If a teacher isn’t clear about what all students should (know) understand and be able to do when the learning experience ends, he or she lacks the
vital organizer around which to develop a powerful lesson.
--Tomlinson, 1999
KUDs One of the keystones in the development of
high-quality curriculum is that teachers clearly articulate what they want students to Know,
Understand, and be able to Do as a result of a unit or lesson.
These KUDs are the Learning Goals that guide curriculum development, frame lessons or units,
and anchor the assessments and learning activities
KNOW
Facts, names, dates, places, information
UNDERSTAND Essential truths that give meaning to the
topic
Stated as a full sentence
BE ABLE TO DO Skills (basic skills, skills of the discipline,
skills of independence, social skills, skills of
production
Verbs or phrases
And
Differentiated
Instruction
Example KUD
Fifth Grade Science Unit
“Investigating Cells”
Unit Big Ideas: •Perspectives/Change
•Changes in perspective can give us new information about the world around us.
The Student Will Understand That: •Scientists use different perspectives to study living things, both large and small
•Scientists use tools to help them change perspectives
The Student Will Know: •Microscopic cells are the building blocks of all living things
•The similarities and differences of plant and animal cells
The Student Will Be Able To (“Do”): • Make observations using the senses, gather and analyze data, make inferences, make predictions, develop questions, develop hypotheses
• Investigate objects with a microscope, compare and contrast characteristics, make scientific models, and use correct scientific vocabulary
Example KUD
High School Chemistry Lesson
Students Will Know: •Dimensional analysis is a way of translating a measurement from one unit to another unit. •Atoms and molecules are too small to count by usual means. •Stoichiometry involves quantitative relationships. •Stoichiometric relationships are based on mole quantities in a balanced equation. These are represented by coefficients. •A coefficient is a quantity that preceeds a reactant or product symbol or formula in a chemical equation and indicates the relative number of particles involved in the reaction.
Students Will Understand That: • Conservation of matter is represented in balanced chemical equations. •Changes are quantified in chemical reactions.
Students Will Be Able To (Do): •Calculate mole ratios. •Make calculations involving relationships between mole-mole; mass-mass; and mole-mass. •Define limiting reactant, excess reactant, and theoretical yield.
Differentiating Science Instruction Learn how science is an ideal content area for differentiating instruction.
Individual Factors Differentiating instruction can be a particularly useful practice for science teachers. How well students comprehend complex science concepts and
principles is heavily influenced by individual factors, including: reading ability
competency in mathematics extent of foundation knowledge present
English language proficiency Learning preferences and learning disabilities affect a student's ability to
master performance-based skills in science. Diversity regarding these factors will likely be high in any given classroom.
Fortunately, the study of science lends itself to strategies that support differentiated instruction. It is not difficult to plan science lessons that
incorporate hands-on investigations; require critical thinking and problem-solving skills; and provide opportunities for kinesthetic, auditory, and visual
learning.
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/differentiating-science-instruction
With proper planning, science teachers can provide multiple options for students to acquire
information, comprehend concepts, and demonstrate what they have learned.
Choices Regarding Differentiated Instruction Concepts and skills in science can be
differentiated based on several different factors.
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/differentiating-science-instruction
Strategies for Implementing Differentiated Instruction The following specific strategies for differentiation based on content, process, or product can be applied in most
science classrooms.
Utilize a variety of instructional delivery methods.
The lecture method traditionally used in many science classrooms should be supplemented by other forms of
content delivery.
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/differentiating-science-instruction
Use flexible grouping and small-group instruction on a regular basis. Science students benefit from interacting and working together toward a common goal. The goal might be completion of a laboratory exercise, problem-solving activity, or assigned project. Teachers may introduce a concept with the entire class, then follow up with small group or pair work. Groups should not be stagnant; frequent regrouping should occur based on complexity of content, student interest, student learning style, or other factors.
Have a variety of materials, resources, and texts available for student
use. Students exploring a concept should have access to written descriptions, graphic images, and audio-visual representations related to the topic. A student with above or below grade-level reading ability will benefit from studying textbooks and reading materials at the appropriate level. Supporting materials for investigation and experimentation should be readily available, and students should be trained in their use.
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/differentiating-science-instruction
Vary the degree of complexity of laboratory investigations. Optimum learning does not occur when students are bored. While all students should master the same basic skills and principles, a laboratory experience does not need to be identical for all students within a classroom. Identify ways that gifted students or students with interests related to a topic can move beyond the requirements of the assigned lab exercise. Design activities that force these students to explore the topic at a deeper level, or to relate peripheral issues to the subject.
Have students create agendas by choosing from suggested
activities, tasks, and projects. Science students rely on their interests when allowed to choose tasks to complete. Develop a list of activities related to a science topic that vary in complexity and address different learning styles. You may partially control choices by assigning some tasks to all students, or specific tasks to individuals based on their needs and abilities. The agenda, or personalized list of assignments a student creates will then be based upon your assessment of his learning characteristics as well as his own interests
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/differentiating-science-instruction
Utilize complex instruction.
Design an open-ended task related to a current topic of study. Have students work in small groups to complete the assignment. As students are working, move among groups asking questions that extend thinking and stimulate concept development. Design groups based on ability, interest, learning preference, or other factors.
Engage students in role play or simulation activities.
Activities based on authentic situations can stimulate learning in students with a variety of interests, learning styles, and abilities. Design lessons around computer simulations, debates, or science topics currently in the news. These types of activities have the power to engage students and encourage active learning.
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/differentiating-science-instruction
Develop learning stations. Create areas in the classroom for independent or small-group investigation of a scientific principle or process. Provide necessary materials and resources at each location. The topic at each station should relate to a major theme of study. Tasks should emphasize thinking skills and should force students to actively solve problems. Move among students as they work, asking questions and cementing understanding.
Engage students in orbital studies.
Develop a list of topics related to a science concept or theme. Allow each student to select a topic based on interest. Have each student conduct an independent investigation of the chosen topic with guidance and coaching from the teacher. This type of activity allows flexibility in pacing, degree of complexity, and the nature of the product produced by each student.
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/differentiating-science-instruction
Differentiate assessment tools.Assessment does not always have to occur in a standardized
format. Consider using alternative assessments, such as:
• laboratory practicals
• written opinions supported by data
• verbal presentations
• multimedia projects that target students with different learning preferences
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/differentiating-science-instruction
Previous information from
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/differentiating-science-instruction
Another Good Resource
http://www.amazon.com/Differentiated-Instruction-Science-Teacher-ebook/dp/B0038OBIPG
