Date of Award/Publication

5-2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MS in Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education

First Supervisor

Diane Barrett

Abstract

Differentiated Instruction is not a new concept for teachers. Since the days of the one-room school house teachers have been differentiating to help their students reach deeper understandings of content and to succeed in their education. Teachers have used several strategies to teach content; one in particular is tiered assignments. Through pre-assessments teachers can evaluate students· readiness, group them by standard knowledge and create tiered assignments based on these readiness levels. Each tier will be based on the same content standard and carry the same workload, however, the nature of the assignments will vary. Through this effort teachers can teach from their students· content knowledge, not from where the curriculum starts. Results of this study show that despite several unavoidable factors, differentiation can still affect students' basic understandings of mathematics content, help them to improve assessment scores, and achieve success.

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