Hi Messauod,

One of our teachers recently gave Aronson, E. (1970s) Jigsaw Teaching Approach a try, and he couldn't believe the results he got! This approach completely refocuses the source of knowledge in the classroom from the teacher to the students. Each student is responsible for a portion of what is to be taught. Less skilled students will come out of their shells and learn so much in the process. Confidence is boosted no end for every student. All students have to listen to each student presenter/teacher carefully in order to gain the specific knowledge (it works best when it's new knowledge for everyone). Giving a quiz at the end (which students have individually provided questions on their area for) keeps all on their toes!

Further reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigsaw_(teaching_technique)#cite_note-jigsaw_website-1

https://www.jigsaw.org

Good luck!

Hello,

There isn't a simple answer. You should consult the literature on "differentiated instruction" (Astolfi, Meirieu, Kahn, Legrand, Przesmycki, etc.).

Best regards.

Thank you Agnes. I know there is work in the literature, but I am after hands-on examples as different academics/instructors may adopt different approaches, and some approaches are more effective than others.

Double teacher approach works well. Try to read this discussion: https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_do_you_believe_are_the_key_factors_that_support_school-wide_inclusive_preactice_for_all_learners_in_the_community#view=5a1e6f2993553bc0085e4900

Thank you Airat. Interesting, but there is the problem of resources.

I face the same problem and use group work to solve it. students will help each other when they work in group so the low level students will get more chance in getting the information from me and from their group members.

Thank you Hameda. This is an effective way if it can be implemented. The only problem is when teaching very large classes (100+). Splitting them in a number of tutorial sessions is possible, but very resourceful.

Hello,

Clearly, learner heterogeneity is a formidable challenge in language teaching. On the other hand, teachers are accountable to all learners . In such circumstances, cooperative learning techniques and using mixed level teaching may prove effective. As a case in point, biased tasks and tiered tasks may pedagogically benefit learners with different language abilities.

Best regards,

R. Biria

Hi Messauod,

One of our teachers recently gave Aronson, E. (1970s) Jigsaw Teaching Approach a try, and he couldn't believe the results he got! This approach completely refocuses the source of knowledge in the classroom from the teacher to the students. Each student is responsible for a portion of what is to be taught. Less skilled students will come out of their shells and learn so much in the process. Confidence is boosted no end for every student. All students have to listen to each student presenter/teacher carefully in order to gain the specific knowledge (it works best when it's new knowledge for everyone). Giving a quiz at the end (which students have individually provided questions on their area for) keeps all on their toes!

Further reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigsaw_(teaching_technique)#cite_note-jigsaw_website-1

https://www.jigsaw.org

Good luck!

Hi Simon,

This sounds very interesting. It is a bit like the flipped classroom (?), but not quite he same approach. I mean it is the students leading the learning instead of the teacher. I will read more about the technique and if and how best I can adopt it for my specific needs.

Thank you.

Messaoud

I use a variation of the jigsaw technique and it works really well in groups with a lot of students who have English as an additional language. I provide a basic starting point for the information they have to disseminate and encourage them to use their mobile devices to research further information. I've only used this in smaller sized groups though as the time it would take to prepare and then present in large groups would be problematic. I also use Meetoo to encourage thinking and learning and formative assessment -which can be used with any sized group.

I agree with Dr.Rawlings view.At some point,you can use supervised practice method of teaching.

Hi Messauod ,

From my experience of observing students in my classes and their learning activities outside classroom whatever abilities they possessed aren't so important as compared to the learning empowerment given to them. For instance, most of my students with low ability in group learning often able to improve and develop team skills after a short period of time when they were given the task that empower them to communicate, to respect, to lead and also to become a good team member. In my case I totally use student-centred learning specifically Problem-based Learning, case study and project-based as my tool.

Undeniably, a heterogeneous class is a challenge for a language teacher. In large or small groups, jigsaw and cooperative learning works rematkably well.

It is of great advantage to u as a teacher to be able to identify the abilities of your students. this even makes teaching and learning more interesting and student centered. All you need to do is to put your students into groups of varying abilities and assign them task which will require all their abilities so that no one will be left out. it could be in the form of role play, drummer or research.

Thank you Maxime. Your approach is sensible for English language students. I am sure it could work equally well to teach Engineers.

My area is string instrument instruction. I present the material or specific skill and allow time for follow-up practice with the concept. During the practice (this includes performance as well as development of theory concepts), I offer individual coaching and encourage peer-to-peer interaction. In a performance oriented setting, knowledge and abilities are rarely equal.

Thank you Walter. What class sizes you usually have? I am just thinking individual coaching, although very effective, is time consuming.

My classes vary in size from 12 to 35, and the in-class coaching is not extensive. Rather it is guidance as students try to use the new material.

Mis clases, tienen que ver con la aplicación de los contenidos en terreno.

Para esto se preparan a los alumnos, entregándoles diferentes herramientas ,que utilizarán con el fin de comprender lo que la asignatura les entrega.

Visitas a lugares distintos , con enseñanza diferentes.

Thank you Walter. Although we teach (lecture) to a very large class size around 200), but for the tutorials we split the class into smaller group sizes. So it should work. Thanks again for your input.

Through building the self-confidence of the learner, and the use of positive reinforcement methods.

Among the different pedagogies I actually use in my lectures are the Socratic questioning or the generative questioning out of which you can get different questions from different students each according to his ability.

Another approach is map concepts via which each one can participate according to her/his ability; open-ended questions encourage no fixed answers can be functioning in the non-homogeneous classes.

Adding to the above-mentioned teaching strategies that I personally apply in my lectures, I continually provide students with warmth and friendship that can give self-reliance and willingness to work regardless of the level each student represents

Hello Estela, thank you for your contribution. Unfortunately, I do not understand Spanish (I am guessing it is?) :)

Dear Ahmed Awad

It is interesting to see you are using different approaches. Open-ended questions are certainly very effective in getting students to think for themselves and even encourages them to work together.

Thanks a lot dear Messaoud Saïdani

Thank you Othman.

I had a similar experience in that some low-ability students do develop with time when they work in a group setting and found other students are helpful and supportive.

cluster or small grouping for discussion method will do the magic for students with mixed ability

Teaching and managing the learning of students with mixed abilities is quite interesting. As a professional teacher, one thing that you should consider first is taking a learning style inventory. With this knowledge, you can structure your class effectively by incorporating multimedia courseware that can appeal to all learning abilities.

Thank you Rasheed and Harry for your input. Cluster/small groups is something we already do, and it has some positive impact on students learning. Taking a learning style inventory to aid with structuring classes, is a good idea. Implementation is always the challenge and key to success.

I have just come across this fantastic article in the guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2017/nov/22/ditching-the-sets-why-were-teaching-mixed-ability-lessons-for-science

I found the following statement quite interesting:

By ensuring that there’s a mix of group and individual work, closed- and open-ended tasks, and that the pace of lessons is varied, I’m able to identify those who need support based on how they’re performing in that lesson, rather than on a previous test result. A student in a bottom set may actually pick up a concept faster than one in a higher set, particularly in science where we have such a range of skills, but could be limited by the design of a lesson aimed exclusively at low attainers.

In practical terms I’ve shied away from setting tasks with right or wrong answers. This prevents a student getting 100% the first time they try while another student gets 20% – a situation that is likely to reinforce the latter’s pre-existing beliefs about their own intelligence. Instead I use concept cartoons with a variety of answers, where students can identify if a conclusion is true or false in the first instance then explore that idea in different ways depending on their level of understanding. All students should feel involved in the conversation, although individuals may be working on different aspects of the task we’ve set.

Hi!

Many good pedagogical tecommendations here I see, but they almost all are somewhat limited by the one-size-fits-all approach that classroom teaching of cohorts of students in a set time is, what we usually call education or schooling. Learn the stuff x in time y under conditions z. Time as a constant and learning as variable results. Let's try to think outside the box instead.

Students are different, and there is a human limit of possible differentiation or individualisation of teaching. Even if the teacher really makes great effort, he or she is not capable of processing all the information needed from constantly assessing students to make them all learn at similar pace - and there is not enough time either.

If we differentiate teaching and provide a range of learning opportunities, it is regularly the already successful that makes best use of them. Good for them, but the problems can seem to become worse. Furthermore, good students are not in the longer perspective willing to help their weaker classmates, and group work strategy is sometimes not helping, just concealing, difference in abilities.

This sounds all very pessimistic, but I think there are better possibilities ahead to make learning constant and time variable for students (instead of time constant and learning variable), pursuing mastery learning before proceding to the next course. A student should learn constantly. ICT-enabled adaptive learning, resting on learning analytics, may be able to help here. Adaptive learning comes in many versions and is still in its infancy and is not easy to organise - and in due time it seems to destroy the class and course concepts and thereby traditional school organisation.

This need not be a catastrophy, we may with ICTs also be able to reconstruct social learning and personal feedback on learning, and be able to use the abilities of the teacher for these more truly human tasks instead of for trying to compensate for students in a group being different from one another. (I once wrote a book review touching on this subject, and the discussion chapter in my recent dissertation thesis gives more context as well. see below if interested. )

Article A Blended review of Salman Khan: The One-World Schoolhouse

Thesis From blended learning to learning onlife - ICTs, time and ac...

Thank you Anders. Very interesting and inspiring indeed. I like this approach.

I especially like this statement:

"I think there are better possibilities ahead to make learning constant and time variable for students (instead of time constant and learning variable), pursuing mastery learning before proceeding to the next course. "

Thank you for sharing the article and thesis. I will make sure to read them carefully. Can I ask if you have tried any of this in your class or may be by your institution? Really interesting.

Hi!

Thanks for being interested in my unorthodox reflections. Well, it is many years now since I taught full-time, have been working with education development and later educational research mostly. But it is based on own teaching experiences of being trapped with teaching and learning within a system with a lot of stuff, different levels of student ability and tough time limits. Nothing unique about this experience, but I try to question systems as well. I taught a lot of philosophy courses in upper secondary as an example. None of the students had studied this before and many were very ambitious snd hopeful and wanted to boost their grades for best admission to university education. I knew that the course was not more difficult than that most students could master it very well, given enough time and support. But a teacher must set grades possible to defend as well, so the only trick was to make it fairly difficult and stop with a test when some had mastered it, some were on the way and a lot of students had only got the basics.

So getting some of the lower grades can be as much of a system failure as a learning difficulty. However, this is the best system we have had possibility to work in as teachers. With ICTs we have new possibilities to adaption.

Enclosing a couple of recent publications touching on adaptive learning and education philosophy as well - and will send you in the Researchgate mail my whole pdf of my thesis including 5 articles. Easier to read that way. Below are also some links to articles on adaptive learning, written by friends of mine and practised at their universities.

Conference Paper Using Philosophy of Information to look at teaching, technol...

Article Blended learning: the new normal and emerging technologies

https://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/12/an-adaptive-learning-partnership

Article Adaptive Learning in Psychology: Wayfinding in the Digital Age

Again, I say it is very inspiring. In my institution we face this challenge, where we do have students with different cultural learning backgrounds and different learning abilities.

I like your approach and the idea of exploring and exploiting the possibilities offered by ICT. This is something I would like personally to try.

Thank you again for the links to the articles.. I have got a lot to read and digest. Please keep sharing your thoughts and findings with the rest of us. Always a pleasure to read you. And I will certainly share my findings with you as I embark in exploring new frontiers in teaching and learning.

Teaching heterogeneous groups of student is a challenging activity for teachers and facilitators. However, my 28 years experience of teaching helped me understand that my teaching and learning materials should be able to be accommodation all students. When I set-up my learning objectives/ outcomes; I consider three levels of Bloom Taxonomy and ensure that each category is addressed per lesson presentation. And I ensured that students work in heterogeneous groups and are given plenty of learning and assessment activities to address the learning objectives/ outcomes.

Furthermore, assignments and projects are designed for group work. The advantages gained from group work is that it facilitates peer tutoring; student engagement improves learning process and high attainment of outcomes. The skills such as team work spirit, people and social, collaboration, problem creative and thinking skills are promoted.

Collaboration method is user friendly for small and big sized classes. The choice and use of contemporary and 21st Century teaching teaching, learning and assessment media and strategies is required in student-centered pedagogy.

Dear Kgomotlokoa,

Thank you very much for sharing your experience with us. I like your approach of using the Bloom Taxonomy of three levels of categories.

Group work is good, but in my experience it has its own drawbacks and problems. It needs careful monitoring to ensure efficiecy of the group.In a larger group for example, any given member will feel less personally responsible for what takes place in it. If too many members follow the natural tendency to observe rather than act, a group may lose its efficiency and thereby find it much more difficult to reach its aims.

Yes, indeed monitoring is important if you want collaborative learning to be successful. First things should be done first.

1. Students should know their level of performance in the previous activities and as a teacher/ facilitator you should have assisted on methods to upgrade their performance and group engagement.

2. Allow collaborative teaching to place in three phases that can be useful in monitoring and giving feedback:

- Guided practice - provide step-by-step on group engagement processes.

- Guided practice - student work on their own, but teacher/ facilitator monitors, and provide corrective feedback.

- Independent engagement - students practice on their own without immediate teacher feedback.

Quality education is the goal of every teacher, every school, and every country.As a second grade educator it has been a big responsibility managing mixed-abilities students and it greatly affect individual differences. This is the hardest part of the teachers on how to discipline them. At this point, a consultation of parents is a big help by checking first their child's personal and family background then it is now the time that we can give differentiated instruction. As to the resources, it is much better if the teacher will utilize the available materials which is culturally appropriate and available from their locality and collaboration with the parents is one of the things that can make our goal a successful one.

Thank you Mary Ann for sharing your experience. It seems the problem is from primary schools right up to Universities! I could not find a unified approach to deal with such an important problem that impacts hugely on students achievement and progression.

you're welcome sir...Messaoud Saidani

Thank you! It is really pleasing to see people from so many different countries sharing experiences for the same challenges.