ONE Overcoming the Limitations of Traditional Teaching Methods with Differentiated Instruction INTRODUCTION The dominant approach to teaching in colleges and universities employs at-­home readings and in-­class lectures to introduce students to new mate- rial, followed by written assignments and exams designed to assess how well students acquired the intended knowledge from a course. This tradi- tional instruction approach takes a one-­size-­fits-­all view of teaching and learning, where instructors prepare lectures, select readings, and design graded assessments with the intention of making sure the average student has the greatest opportunity to succeed in his or her learning, inevitably leaving some students struggling to make sense of the material while the most advanced students often feel unchallenged. This approach also ignores the facts that students come to a course with dif­fer­ent levels of knowledge regarding the topic and prior exposure to the material, that they have dif­ fer­ent interests that they are curious and passionate about, and that the way they best learn varies ­ because of innate learning styles, environmental pref- erences, gender, cultural backgrounds, and life experiences that impact how they perceive what they are learning and how they interact with instruc- tors and with their peers. If an educator considers it a priority to give all students the best opportunity to learn and master what is taught, this tradi- tional instruction approach leaves much to be desired.
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