DIFFERENTIATION IN THE CLASSROOM, A CURSORY REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Abstract

Differentiation in the classroom is a method of effectively presenting information to students who may have diverse backgrounds, learning levels, strengths and weaknesses, and different language proficiencies. Providing each student with optimal strategies to learn requires that teachers also have optimal strategies to teach. The current work is an effort that begins to examine differentiation as a teaching strategy for improving student learning, regardless of the diversity within the classroom. Various relevant publications are reviewed and discussed here to define differentiation, to bring to light a wide range of educational concerns, for which differentiation has been considered a possible solution, and to suggest some foundations for differentiation strategies that teachers might employ in the classroom.
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