Differentiating Mathematics Instruction in Remote Learning Environments: Exploring Teachers’ Challenges and Supports
Keywords:
differentiation, mathematics instruction, remote learning, documentational approach to didactics, schemesAbstract
This report examines one teacher’s attempts to differentiate instruction every day, in a dynamic teaching and learning environment. The report is part of a larger study that utilised a network of theories approach, coordinating the documentational approach to didactics (DAD) and Thompson and Harel’s theory of meanings, to examine teachers’ understandings as they engaged in and discussed their attempts to differentiate instruction in remote and hybrid learning environments. Analyses involved building models of teachers’ understandings of differentiated instruction and the resources they utilised to support differentiation and exploring how these models persisted or changed throughout the study. The report’s findings highlight the importance of teachers’ meanings in their attempts to differentiate instruction and the role digital resources play in supporting or hindering such practices. Finally, this report adds to a growing body of research on teacher’s work with and on digital resources as a means to support differentiated instruction, particularly as remote and hybrid teaching and learning continues throughout the U.S. and across the globe.
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