DISTINGUISHED EDUCATION IN BRAIN BASED LEARNING
The term “diversity” is used widely in education. Many educators have their own ideas of it means. This study sought to clarify what differentiated instruction consists of by developing a conceptual framework for differentiation based on research and best practice in education. By fully understanding and defining the components of a differentiated classroom, one can determine which strategies of differentiation affect student achievement.
The practice of differentiation is firmly grounded in brain research. In a differentiated classroom, teachers who tier their lessons to match the readiness levels of their students eliminated both boredom and frustration in the learning process. Brain research confirms that the human brain functions by paying attention to meaningful information. This attention to meaningful detail has allowed for the survival of the human species. Consider students in a classroom confronted with information that doesn’tmatch anything they’ve previously stored. Their brains look for an appropriate network tohelp them make sense or meaning of this information. If nothing can be found, theinformation is discarded as meaningless. This information has majorimplications to the classroom teacher. A teacher can create a lesson that is exciting andentertaining, but if the neural circuit or network was never activated in the first place, thelesson will have no meaning to the student and the information will be discarded asuseless. A teacher who differentiates by student readiness is meeting the need of the human brain and adjusting to what we currently know and understand from the brainresearch. This, in turn, enhances student learning.
Differentiation of instruction could allow for appropriate challenges and engaginglessons for students based on their interests, ability, and learning needs. According to Jensen (1998), “Our brain is highly effective and adaptive. What ensures our survival is adapting and creating options. A typical classroom narrows our thinking strategies and answer options. Educators who insist on singular approaches and the ‘right answer’ areignoring what’s kept our species around for centuries”. Without anunderstanding of the basic brain research, differentiation will not work in any classroom.
The goal is to create a climate that balances low threat with evidences of challenge fora wide range of students’ interests and abilities. The environment must still havetasks, projects, displays, symbols, and clues that will instigate students’ intrinsic motivation and attract their interests, attention, and curiosity. If they feel comfortable,then they will not put barriers up and therefore will be open to possibilities ofreflection and engagement. A brain compatible environment ensures that learning takes place. A differentiatedclassroom is organized in a manner to alleviate student stress and increase student interest in their learning by developing lessons according to the needs of the students. Accordingto Reigeluth& Beatty (2003): Brain research shows that learning is developmental, that each brain is uniquelyorganized, and that children experience windows of opportunity for learning atdifferent ages. This finding reports the need for performance-based progressionthrough a curriculum, rather than the traditional time-based progression that currentlypredominates. Finally, brain research shows that fear, threat, and fatigue contribute to“down-shifting”--a sense of helplessness that impedes learning by producing a rushed,programmed response stimuli rather than a thoughtful (higher-order) approach.
When students take an interest in their own learning and are not fearful of failure,they are willing to attempt and can accomplish greater challenges. “Research now tells us that threatening learners may foster more of the samebehavior that we are trying to avoid. A threat is any stimulus that causes the brain totrigger defensiveness or a sense of helplessness to the learner”
While the term “differentiated instruction” may be ambiguous to teachers, the practiceitself should not be. All teachers realize that their students are different in many ways. There is not a classroom in this country where all students are identical and learn thesame way.
In order for all students to experience successes that matter to them, schoolwork mustaccommodate individual differences of talent and development. Students aredevelopmentally unequal. Therefore, educators must ensure that for a substantialportion of their school lives, students will be able to see their success along a varietyof paths. Teachers’ expectations must reflect an understanding of differences.