Differentiation and adaption

Differentiation is an approach that encourages teachers to respond to student diversity while maintaining high expectations for all. Based on the Melbourne Declaration (2008) and reaffirmed in the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration, the goal is to promote excellence and equity and enable successful learning opportunities for all students (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2017). 

Using an evidence-based teaching method, teachers can differentiate processes, content, products, and the learning environment to maximise student learning potential. 

Adjusting processes for different abilities 

Every classroom contains students with a range of abilities and capabilities. Teachers know their students best and are in a position to use the LIA Framework to design learning experiences that enable all students to maximise their capabilities. Key factors to consider when adjusting the experiences for students of different abilities include: 

• What are the students’ interests? Students differ in the way they engage with the science. This may be influenced by their prior experiences, special interests, and attitudes to learning. Identify individual students’ interests when adjusting the processes used in the learning experiences.
• What can students do? It is important not to make assumptions about a student’s abilities. Their capabilities may have progressed since the last task they completed. Identify students’ interests, strengths, and areas of need when designing each phase of the LIA Framework.
• How will students approach a task? Most large tasks can be broken down into a series of smaller steps. Could this scaffold be provided verbally, or does it need to be written down?
• Who can students work with? Consider how the class could be grouped to ensure that all students have access to the task at hand. Is it appropriate to group students according to ability so that instructions can be scaffolded in different ways, or will mixed-ability groups provide opportunities for students to use complementary skills and peer-to-peer mentoring?
• How can students communicate? There are multiple ways (other than written work) that a student can communicate their learning. Consider a multimodal approach to enable students to represent their learning. 

The Australian Curriculum Standards outline the Science Inquiry skills and content expectations for students at each age and stage. These can provide a guide for teachers to differentiate the approach to inquiry. 

For example, when a Year 9 student is planning and conducting an experiment, they will have built upon their skills in the previous year levels. 

Science Inquiry: Planning and conducting V9

If an investigation needs to be differentiated for a Year 9 student or group of students, they may first be provided with a model to explore and asked to suggest ways that it could be related to the concepts being covered. This may be followed by a second inquiry cycle that provides a selection of models and asks them to identify the advantages and disadvantages of each model.  

Adjusting content 

The Australian Curriculum Standards outline the Science Understanding, Science as a Human Endeavour, and Science Inquiry content students seek to achieve. Many of the Science Understanding descriptors can be broken into the core concepts that build as students progress through their schooling. 

For example, Physical Science is broken into two concepts: 

• Forces affect the motion and behaviour of objects.
• Energy can be transferred and transformed from one to another and is conserved within systems. 

A student in a Year 9 class should use wave and particle models to describe energy transfer through different mediums and examine the usefulness of each model for explain phenomena.  

If differentiation is required, a teacher could use the core concept of energy to identify Science Connections or even Primary Connections teaching sequences that examine the same concept at earlier year levels. This will provide a series of less complicated lessons and activities that cover the same core concept of energy. For example: 

• Classify different types of energy as kinetic or potential and investigate energy transfer and transformations in simple systems (Science Connections Year 8).
• Investigate the transfer and transformation of energy in electric circuits, including the role of circuit components, insulators and conductors (Primary Connections Year 6). 

A selection of these lessons appropriate to the student’s content or skills could form the early inquiry cycles of an LIA framework for Year 9. This low floor approach allows all students to progress in their learning. 

Adjusting products, and the evaluation processes 

The Australian Curriculum provides achievement standards that are the reference point for the evaluation process for teachers. Schools are required to assess and report on the achievement and progress of each student. 

When designing or adjusting the outcome of the Act phase, consider different ways and modes that students could show their learning. The core concepts and key ideas can provide a guide of the resources that can be used to support teachers in this way. 

For example, the Year 10 Earth and Space Science achievement standard states that students should “describe trends in patterns of global climate change and identify causal factors”. This is part of the Core concept of “the Earth system comprises dynamic and interdependent systems; interactions between these systems cause continuous change over a range of scales.”  

This core concept is visited in Year 8 “apply understanding of the theory of plate tectonics to explain patterns of change in the geosphere” and in Year 9 “explain how interactions within and between Earth’s spheres affect the carbon cycle”. 

Revisiting the earlier Science Connections sequences based on the core concept, may provide alternative approaches to the Launch, Inquire, and Act phases that could be modified to build students' knowledge and skills, allowing Year 10 students to meet the required standard. 

Discuss with your colleagues 

What are the different learning needs of students in your classroom?

What strategies do you currently use for these students?

How do you evaluate the success of these strategies to improve the students' learning? 

Reference 

AITSL. (2017). In the Classroom - Differentiation. AITSL. 
<https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/improve-practice/in-the-classroom/differentiation>