Abstract
As a former elementary teacher, Mark spent an entire academic year in a third grade classroom observing the practice of differentiated instruction in all subjects and co-teaching differentiated science inquiries. The science inquiries included explorations of heat transfer, batteries and bulbs, rocks and minerals, and an extensive unit on moon phases that specifically focused on learner preferences and interests. Differentiated process and products were embedded within the moon phases unit to promote science conceptual understanding through learner choice and creativity. From this experience, Mark learned to be more responsive to the students as diverse learners and now integrates elements of differentiated instruction into his elementary science methods courses. He spends more time getting to know his teacher candidates’ interests and learner preferences as well as embedding differentiated process and products into the 5 E science instructional model. Teacher candidates experience differentiated instruction first as learners in class and then plan and teach differentiated science inquiries to their peers and elementary students. The rewards and challenges of differentiated instruction are also addressed in class.
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Resources for Differentiation
Differentiated/UbD Magnet Lesson Plan
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank the peer reviewers and book editors for constructive feedback on earlier drafts of this chapter. The author would also like to thank Laurie Dillon Guy for helpful suggestions related to differentiated instruction.
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Guy, M. (2014). Being Ready to Learn: My Experience Differentiating Science with Third Graders. In: Dias, M., Eick, C., Brantley-Dias, L. (eds) Science Teacher Educators as K-12 Teachers. ASTE Series in Science Education, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6763-8_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6763-8_10
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