TITLE:
Differentiated Instruction in Practice: Curriculum Adjustments in Kindergarten
AUTHORS:
Anastasia Mavidou, Domna Kakana
KEYWORDS:
Differentiated Instruction, Integrated Curriculum, Kindergarten, Achievement, Children’s Characteristics
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.10 No.3,
March
7,
2019
ABSTRACT: The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of Differentiated Instruction (DI) on kindergarten children’s achievement. More specifically, the paper discusses the effect of different types of adjustments on an Integrated Curriculum following the DI approach. DI is a teaching and learning approach that provides a context to adjust sufficiently several aspects of the curriculum in order to address effectively the needs of all learners. However, the impact of DI is often related to several learning subjects, e.g. reading, mathematics etc., while scarce empirical evidence exists regarding its effectiveness in the context of an Integrated Curriculum. The majority of related research excludes the preschool education; hence,more research about the appropriate implementation of DI in kindergarten settings is needed. The study was quasi-experimental, including pre- and post-tests to examine the effectiveness of DI in reaching the learning goals of three interventions. The participants were 80 kindergarteners for the experimental group and 74 children comprised the control group. The statistical analysis highlighted the positive impact of DI on their achievement. In addition, a tendency was found implying that differentiation by interests was the most effective type of adjustment. The results proved the applicability and positive impactsof DI in kindergarten classrooms, while further research is needed to define and optimize the differentiation strategies and techniques.