Differentiated Instruction in Undergraduate Courses

Chamberlin, M., & Powers, R. (2010). The promise of differentiated instruction for enhancing the mathematical understandings of college students. Teaching Mathematics and its Applications, 29, 113-139.

This article explores the use of differentiated instruction in undergraduate level courses. It talks about the fact that using this form of instruction has shown great success in the K-12 setting, but for some reason is not being used much, if at all, in undergraduate courses. Students often complain about their courses being boring and irrelevant, due to their lack of involvement in the learning and inactivity within the classroom. Students also cited poor teaching for their issues. Specifically they felt their professors were unapproachable and displayed a lack of enthusiasm for the content. Through their results they showed that the students who received the differentiated instruction recorded a higher percent increase than those in the group not receiving the differentiated instruction. Also, these students showed more of a willingness to learn and try out new content, when they were given choices and felt like they were working alongside the teacher in attacking new situations.

Through their differentiation efforts I learned a form of differentiated instruction I would like to try out. Based on their learning profiles, students worked on certain activities. Then at the end of the lesson, or the next day, the students were grouped with one member from each learning profile to help review the different ways the content can be used and approached. I look forward to trying to use this form of instruction for a few lessons.

I feel like this article just solidifies that trying to use differentiated instruction in my classroom is important, because in teaching math I'm sure students feel bored and that certain content is irrelevant to them. I must find a way to deal with this and help my students enjoy the process as much as possible. Furthermore, the article stresses that this type of instruction cannot always be used and a third of the time is a good mark to try to work towards.