NWREL’s Mathematics and Science Education Center has just released the second and third books in a series on the inclusive classroom. Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students: Differentiating Mathematics and Science Instruction and Teaching Mathematics and Science to English-Language Learners follow the first report, Mathematics and Science Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities.
| "At the elementary level, a national study found that an average of 35 to 50 percent of the regular curriculum could be eliminated for gifted students." |
The new books draw on current research to explore the needs of gifted and minority-language students and present instructional strategies that have succeeded in meeting those needs in the context of standards-based reform. Profiles of success stories are interspersed with practical ideas for supporting and challenging these two groups. Each book also includes an extensive list of further resources and a bibliography.
In Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students, author Jennifer Stepanek notes that studies have found that, in general in the inclusive class room, teachers make few modifications to accommodate the needs of gifted students. While acknowledging the challenge of implementing standards-based reform in this setting, Stepanek points out that expecting gifted students to fend for themselves as the class repeats concepts that they have already mastered is just as unfair as forging ahead while some students are still trying to grasp a concept.
![[Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students]](images/jgt_8.jpg) |
![[Teaching Mathematics and Science to English-Language Learners]](images/jgt_9.jpg) |
Teachers also face the challenge of recognizing exactly who is gifted. Relying solely on test scores or previous identification by other teachers is inadequate, and cultural blinders contribute to the underrepresentation of minorities and English-language learners and the overrepresentation of White and Asian students. The report draws on some of the various theories of multiple intelligences to give insight into this area.
If challenging all children is key in effective education, it is particularly so with the gifted. Organizing children by ability groupings for some activities is one method that has been found to be helpful to these students, but only conclusively so when the material and instruction are tailored to student ability.
Research shows that differentiated instruction has clearly been shown to be an essential ingredient for success, Stepanek notes. She identifies five areas for differentiation: course content, instructional strategies, pace of presentation, accommodating student preferences, and creating a flexible environment. Interestingly, many of the strategies for differentiation are similar to recommendations from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and National Research Council for teaching math and science to all children.
Strategies for differentiating processes within the classroom include encouraging self-directed learning. Stepanek cites George Betts’ Autonomous Learner Model, which posits five dimensions to independent learning: orientation (self-assessment), enrichment activities, seminars, individual development, and indepth study. At the same time, students need to be clear on what they will be expected to know, especially in relationship to standards.
Curriculum compacting allows time for alternative topics or projects and should be available to any qualifying student, especially students who already know the material. Flexible pacing can be used to allow students to join higher-level classes or to accelerate.
Gifted students can also be given the opportunity to create different end products, ones that are large-scale and complex and similar to those arrived at by professionals. In the process, students must transform information into something new. With the teachers, students should also develop criteria by which to judge their creations.
Like Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students, Teaching Mathematics and Science to English-Language Learners may have utility for teachers in working with all their students because, as author Denise Jarrett notes in the latter, research indicates that principles of standards-based teaching and second- language strategies are similar. Second-language strategies are also important because language-minority students are the fastest growing group in Northwest schools. More teachers daily face the challenge of supporting these children as they tackle new subject matter in an unfamiliar tongue.
All academic language is more abstract than social language. Because this is particularly so in math and science, these subjects present a special challenge to English learners. These students must be explicitly taught to use academic language. At the same time, they learn it more easily if their home languages are also allowed a role in the classroom. Studies show that when English learners are allowed to use in class the language in which they are proficient, academic performance improves, even if the teacher doesn’t speak that language.
In Teaching Mathematics and Science to English-Language Learners, a variety of strategies for linking second-language acquisition with content instruction are explored. With key concepts organized into thematic units, teachers can give students more time to practice using the relevant language. Putting those key concepts into the context of students’ daily lives and encouraging them to talk about the connections helps, as do opportunities for collaborating with and tutoring each other.
As students progress from concrete to abstract content, their language also becomes more complex, and learning in both areas improves. Still, says Jarrett, problem-solving and inquiry activities should be relevant to students’ real-life experiences and prior knowledge. Aids such as graphics, manipulatives, and other hands-on activities are useful. Students also profit from opportunities to do formal and informal writing about the material.
When students come from cultures with rules for conduct that don’t match up with Western rules for scientific inquiry, the latter may have to be more consciously taught. According to Fradd and Lee (1999), the best approach is to integrate explicit instruction with exploratory learning to address individual students’ needs.
In math, vocabulary can be a real stumbling block for the English learner. Addressing this is done best as part of core instruction. Putting problems in situational contexts also helps make them accessible. Having students write reinforces their knowledge of math and clarifies concepts.
The way teachers use language—employing the active voice, limiting the number of new terms introduced, and paraphrasing and repeating difficult concepts—can aid students’ absorption. Making spaces in discussions will facilitate fuller participation from those who are hesitant to jump in. Suggestions for appropriate means of assessing the progress of minority-language students are included in the report.
The report concludes with a discussion of two kinds of partnerships that can provide important help. Collaborating with bilingual or English-as-a-second-language (ESL) specialists can help teachers improve curriculum, activities, assessments, and resources, and optimize the time of both teachers. Collaborating with parents can help by providing valuable information about students and reinforce support for them. Teaching Mathematics and Science to English-Language Learners contains suggestions for ways teachers can cultivate those relationships.
Taken together, NWREL’s books on teaching learning-disabled, gifted, and minority-language students present a complementary approach to the diverse classroom teachers now face. Several important concepts, such as organizing material thematically and employing multiple strategies, are suggested for all three constituencies, and all strategies presented fit in a complementary way with the requirements of standards-based reforms.
Single copies of the publications are available free of charge to educators in the Northwest states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. To request a single copy, contact the center by e-mail at math_and_science@nwrel.org; by telephone (503) 275-0457; or visit the center’s Web site to order a copy or to download an online version (www.nwrel.org/msec/).
Multiple copies or copies to individuals outside the Northwest region may be purchased through NWREL’s Document Reproduction Service. Please go to the Online Catalog for ordering information.
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Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
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