Take a look at this beautiful garden!
It is full of a wide variety of plants.
Some are flourishing, but others are not doing so well.
Even if they receive the same amount of sun and water, all plants respond differently,
depending on their type and where they have been planted.
Just like plants in a garden, students in a classroom are different and unique.
In classrooms around the world, a teacher typically delivers the same content
to all students at the same time.
Few adjustments are made for individual differences between students.
This is often thought to be the most efficient way to teach a large group of students,
and is how students have been taught for centuries.
Yet, not all students respond equally well to the same instruction.
Some students are able to solve a problem on their own, whereas others may need more guidance.
Research has shown that learning is a highly individual process that is affected by a range of factors,
including prior knowledge, ability and motivation.
It is also dynamic: how a student learns can vary from one day to the next,
depending on the person’s physical and emotional state.
And it also changes over the course of someone’s lifetime.
So what can teachers do to accommodate the needs of each individual student?
One promising approach is adaptive teaching.
In adaptive teaching, the teacher’s role is to monitor each child’s learning
and to adjust instruction as necessary.
The more competent a student becomes, the less guidance the teacher needs to provide.
Over time, students become more responsible for their own learning process.
And just as different plants in a garden can help each other grow,
students in a heterogeneous classroom can collaborate and learn from one another.
Adaptive teaching requires teachers to know their students and assess their needs, abilities and skills.
Usually, teachers evaluate what students have learned using tests and exams at given intervals.
In adaptive teaching, what students know and understand is monitored more continuously
throughout the learning process.
For example, teachers place greater emphasis on the regular evaluation of students‘ work.
They encourage students to assess themselves and their peers or they have informal conversations
with their students about what they have learned, where they are struggling and how they are feeling,
in order to obtain a more detailed assessment of students’ individual needs.
Teachers then adapt the level of guidance provided for each student.
For example, they can adjust the difficulty of tasks and the amount of time given to work on them.
A variety of methods have proved effective in this context.
Project-based learning, classroom discussion, cooperative learning, and demonstrations,
as well as using diverse learning materials, are all examples of methods used in adaptive teaching.
This sounds great for students – but what about the teacher?
Doesn’t this approach place an enormous burden on them?
Teachers have limited time in the classroom.
What’s more, few teachers have been trained to teach in an adaptive way.
This often makes it difficult to attend to individual students’ needs.
But investing in adaptive teaching now is an investment in the future,
as this kind of teaching encourages students’ independence and motivation.
When students are more motivated to learn, teaching becomes more rewarding for teachers,
and school becomes more fun and effective for everyone!
Making adaptive teaching a reality is about rethinking the nature of teaching and learning in schools.
This will require both training and support at all levels, including from school administrators.
The first step is to introduce the concept of adaptive teaching during teacher training
and in professional development.
At school, teachers also need to have the time and flexibility to teach more adaptively.
Team teaching and setting aside time for teacher collaboration
are useful ways of facilitating adaptive teaching.
Technological innovations may be useful as well, but only if they are integrated
into the overall teaching approach.
For example, there are apps that help teachers assess student needs and assign individual tasks,
and allow students to monitor their own learning.
Whether adaptive teaching is truly effective, however, will depend on how it is implemented in the classroom.
If you are a teacher, perhaps you have already taught adaptively.
If so, we encourage you to share your experiences with your colleagues and peers.
You can play a crucial role in rethinking school education, and sharing what you have learned
is a great way to start!