03 Jul 2017
Effective Differentiation
The benefits of supporting students to work within their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) are well known, but so are the challenges. The Sunshine College Maths Program provides teachers with a practical model for effective differentiation, write educators Yvonne Reilly and Jodie Parsons.
The Sunshine College Maths Program takes a novel approach to numeracy teaching and learning. The authors, maths teachers at the school, explain that students are encouraged to take ownership of their learning and to set personal learning goals. They share learning outcomes, but select differentiated tasks that are ‘just right’ for their learning requirements.
For Sunshine College, the outcomes have been positive, and significant. Student confidence and performance in maths has increased, and, in 2014, Sunshine College was named a turnaround school by the Grattan Institute.
Discover a practical model for effective differentiation to boost student confidence and performance and contribute to a growth mindset.
This article was prepared for Horizon: Thought Leadership, a publication of the Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership, Department of Education and Training, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
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