In the last 50 years, research in psychology has informed educational practice, and recently educational neuroscience has also become a source of research-based guidance on education. The authors discuss four significant examples of how combining findings from psychology and neuroscience gives us insight into which approaches are most effective in…

Most people are keenly aware that every student is different and that today's classrooms challenge educators to build safe and successful learning communities comprising students whose races, languages, cultures, experiences, assets, and dreams vary greatly. This book offers K-12 teachers both the foundations for differentiating their instruction…

In "Differentiation and the Brain: How Neuroscience Supports the Learner-Friendly Classroom, Second Edition," authors David Sousa and Carol Ann Tomlinson examine the basic principles of differentiation in light of what the current research on educational neuroscience reveals. This research offers information and insights that can help…

Complex Instruction is a multifaceted instructional model designed to provide highly challenging learning opportunities for students in heterogeneous classrooms. The model provides a rationale for and philosophy of creating equity of access to excellent curriculum and instruction for a broad range of learners, guidance for preparing students for…

All people are shaped by the culture in which they live, but it can be difficult for all of us to grasp that people shaped by other cultures will see and respond to the world differently than we do. These cultural differences can cause teachers to misunderstand students. For example, an educator might assume that quiet students have a language…

A typical classroom today is a jigsaw puzzle of learners. It is not unusual for a teacher to have in one class students from multiple cultures, bringing with them varied degrees of proficiency with English and an impressive array of learning exceptionalities (both identified and not identified), as well as a broad array of economic backgrounds.…

Using a cross-sectional survey design, this study was conducted to explore teacher educators' perceptions and use of differentiated instruction practices. Data were collected using an original questionnaire that was designed to reflect Tomlinson's model of differentiation. Although the results suggest some congruence between teacher educators'…

Teaching is a habit-bound profession. Yet a number of clear signs point to the need to differentiate. Staff developers can help teachers to become better able to teach diverse student populations, grouped heterogeneously, at a high level if they can surmount four key barriers.

This book offers guiding principles for culturally diverse environments and curricular choices to support multicultural inclusiveness. Case studies provide examples of exemplary gifted education programs, emphasizing the aspects of the program that best respond to diverse student populations. Subsequent chapters on gifted and general education…

Take a cursory look around most school districts, schools and classrooms to confirm what the experts tell us: Our student population is becoming more academically diverse with each passing year. There are increased categories of special education identification, a rapidly growing second language population, more students carrying the weight of…

Ability grouping is a common approach to dealing with student variance in learning. In general, findings suggest that such an approach to dealing with student differences is disadvantageous to students who struggle in school and advantageous to advanced learners. The concept of differentiation suggests that there is another alternative to…