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| Reading 2 |
Curricular Design
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Burke, M., Hagan, S., & Grossen, B. (1998). What curricular designs and strategies accommodate diverse learners? Teaching Exceptional Children, 31(1), 34-38. Abstracted by Barbara Higgins-Dover This article includes a description of six features of instruction for accommodating and accelerating student learning. Also included is a review of classroom research validating the implications of using such instruction. Examples and a model of the "Convection Principle" and its applications are provided for the reader. Big Ideas: The authors discuss the importance of providing instruction around big ideas, allowing students with disabilities to learn information in less time and with fewer difficulties. A social studies example and a science example are both provided for the reader. These two examples elaborate on the idea of presenting information in this manner. Conspicuous Strategies: It is suggested that educators teach students with disabilities using distinct and well-understood strategies, not using conspicuous strategies that only approximate the steps needed for reaching goals. Primed Background Knowledge: Students with learning disabilities are described as having less prerequisite skills or vocabulary difficulties. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers prime their students with necessary background knowledge by analyzing the big ideas and identifying the steps needed for greater understanding. Mediated Scaffolding: Scaffolding is defined as the "personal guidance, assistance, and support that a teacher, peer, or task provide to a learner." Gradual removal of scaffolding encourages students to be "independent learners." Teachers can use modeling, extracting of critical skills from text, and teaching of text in less demanding ways, to deliver this guidance or assistance. Judicious Review and Strategic Integration: Teachers should plan, organize and review the information that has been taught in order to facilitate better learning and retention. The authors suggest that judicious review should be sufficient, distributed over time, varied, and cumulative. It is also suggested that teachers use strategic integration to connect old learning to more complex concepts, so that the learner can make connections between new knowledge and what he/she already knows. Implications of Design Features on Practice: In this final section of the article, the authors discuss studies that have been done using the six principles presented. These findings suggest that by using the principles, we can often "close the learning gap" between students with and without disabilities. The NCITE web-site is mentioned as a place to locate the synthesis on research about these six instructional design principles. |
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