Module 4: Individual Differences

1. “Everyone is Unique”

2.
Individual Differences Factors

(Student Diversity)

Individual Differences Benefits of Diversity Classroom Strategies

Factors in the Classroom for Student Diversity

3. We are all different in terms of:

Name, age, gender, nationality, province, language spoken, hobbies or interests, favorite
subjects, difficulties, and even our ambition
4. Factors that Bring about Student Diversity
1. Socioeconomic Status
2. Thinking /Learning Style
3. Exceptionalities

5. How student Diversity Enriches the Learning Environment

“Teachers are meant to be challenged”

1. Students’ self-awareness is enhanced by diversity.

2. Student diversity contributes to cognitive development.

‘The classroom is peculiarly the “marketplace of ideas” - (Supreme Court Justice, William J. Brenman)

3. Student diversity prepares learners for their role as responsible members of the society

‘The classroom can provide more than just theory given by the teacher in a lecture. With student diversity,
the classroom becomes a “public place” where community can be practice.

4. Student diversity can promote harmony.

6. Some Tips on Student Diversity

1. Encourage learners to share their personal history and experiences.

2. Integrate learning experiences and activities which promote students’ multicultural and cross-cultural
awareness

3. Aside from highlighting diversity, identify patterns of unity that transcend group differences.

Clyde Kluckholn; American Anthropologist

He said that we are all the same in different ways.

4. Communicate high expectations to all subgroups

“Communication is the Key”

-Questioning techniques

5. Use varied instructional methods to accommodate student diversity in learning styles.

a. Sensory/Perceptual modalities

b. Formats or procedures

- formats

• student-centered

• teacher-centered

• unstructured

• structured

- procedures

• independent learning

• interdependent learning

6. Vary the examples you use to illustrate concepts in order to provide multiple contexts that are relevant to
students from diverse backgrounds

• complete personal information

• ideas, comments, questions

• provide their own examples

• apply concepts
7. Adapt to the student backgrounds and learning styles by allowing them personal choice and decision-
making opportunities concerning what they will learn and how they will learn it.

• student attitudes - subject matter

• interactions among students

• working more consistently

8. Diversify your methods of assessing and evaluating student learning.

- powerful way to promote student awareness of the diversity of human learning styles

9. Purposely, form small-discussion groups of students from diverse backgrounds.

- effective for promoting student progress to a more advance stage of cognitive development

• instructor is removed from the center stage

• exposed to the perspective of other students

 Module 5: Learning/Thinking Styles and Multiple Intelligences
Learner/ Thinking Styles
Refer to the preferred way an individual processes information.

Sensory Preferences
Refers to the type of sensory data that registers most quickly & intensely in your brain.

Visual Learners - these learners learned best from visual aids including: diagrams, illustrated textbooks,
overhead transparencies, discussion.

• Visual Iconic - learners who are more interested in visual imagery such as film, graphic displays
or pictures in order to solidify learning.

• Visual symbolic - learners who are more comfortable with abstract symbolism such as
mathematical formula or written word.

Auditory Learners - Verbal lectures, discussions, talking things through, listening to what others have to say.
-these learners often benefit from reading text aloud and using a tape recorder.

Auditory learners also fall into two categories:

• Listeners- remember things said to them and make the information their own.

• Talkers - prefer to talk and discuss.

Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners - persons benefit from a hands-on approach, actively exploring the physical world
around them.
- Learning by doing.

Global- Analytic Continuum

Analytic thinkers - tend toward the linear, step by step process of learning.
- they tend to see finite elements of patterns than rather than the whole.
- They are “tree seers” they are more comfortable in the world of details and hierarchies of information.

Global thinkers - lean towards non-linear thoughts and tend to see the whole pattern rather than particle
elements
- “Forest seers” who give attention only to the overall structure and sometimes ignore details.
LEFT BRAIN (Analytic) RIGHT BRAIN (Global)

Successive Hemispheric Simultaneous Hemispheric

Style Style

1. Verbal 1. Visual

2. Responds to word 2. Responds to tone of

meaning voice

3. Sequential 3. Random

4. Processes information 4. Processes information

linearly in varies order

5. Responds to logic 5. Responds to emotion

6. Plans ahead 6. Impulsive

7. Recalls people’s name 7. Recalls people faces

8. Speaks with few 8. Gestures when speaking

figures

9. Punctual 9. Less punctual

10. Prefers formal study 10. Prefers sound/music

design background while studying

11. Prefers bright lights 11. Prefers frequent

while studying mobility while studying
 In accord in Roger Sperry’s model, the left-brain dominant individual is portrayed as the linear
(analytic) verbal, mathematical thinker while the right brained person is viewed as global, non-linear is holistic
in thoughts and preferences.

Multiple Intelligences

The theory of multiple intelligences (MI) was first described by Howard Gardner in Frames of Mind
(1983).

Gardner defines intelligence as “an ability or set of abilities that allows a person to solve a problem or
fashion a product that is valued in one or more cultures”.

Gardner believes that different intelligences maybe independent abilities—a person can be low in one
domain area but high in another. All of us possess the intelligence but in varying degrees of strength.

His most current research indicates that there are nine distinct forms of intelligences. In order to
facilitate learning effectively, teachers should use strategies that match these kinds of intelligences.

Nine Kinds of Intelligences:

1. Visual/Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart)

2. Verbal/Linguistic (Word Smart)

3. Mathematical/Logical (Number Smart/Logic Smart)

4. Bodily Kinesthetic (Body Smart)

5. Musical (Music Smart)

6. Intrapersonal (Self Smart)

7. Interpersonal (People Smart)

8. Naturalist (Nature Smart)

9. Existential (Spirit Smart)

Teaching Strategies guided by Thinking/Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligence

1. Use questions of all types to stimulate various levels of thinking from recalling factual information to
drawing implications and making value judgements.

2. Provide a general overview of material to be learned, i.e., structured overviews, advanced organizers,
etc., so that students’ past experiences will be associated with the new ideas.

3. Allow sufficient time for information to be processed and then integrate using both the right-and left-
brain hemispheres.
4.Set clear purposes before any listening, viewing or reading experience.

5. Warm up before the lesson development by using brainstorming, set induction, etc.

6. Use multisensory means for both processing and retrieving information. (Write directions on the board
and give them orally.)

7. Use a variety of review and reflection strategies to bring closure to learning (Writing summaries,
creating opinion surveys, etc.).

8. Use descriptive feedback rather than simply praising (“The example you’ve provided is an excellent one
to point to the concept of ...”).

Module 6: Learners with Exceptionalities

We commonly refer to learners with exceptionalities as persons who are different in some way from
the “normal” or “average”. The term “exceptional learners includes those with special needs related to
cognitive abilities, behavior, social functioning, physical and sensory impairments, emotional disturbances
and giftedness. Most of these learners require a lot of understanding and patience as well as special
education and related services if they are to reach their full potential of development.

It is important that we have both the right information and proper attitude in dealing with special
learners.

Disability- is a measurable impairment or limitation that “interferes with a person’s ability, for example, to
walk, lift, hear or learn. It may refer to a physical, sensory, or mental condition”. (Schiefelbusch Institute,
1996)

Handicap- is a disadvantage that occurs as a result of a disability or impairment. The degree of

disadvantage (or the extent of the handicap) is often dependent on the adjustment made by both the
person and his environment.

CATEGORIES OF EXCEPTIONALITIES

1. Specific Cognitive or Academic Difficulties

• Learning Disabilities- involves difficulties in specific cognitive processes like perception,

language, memory or metacognition that are not due to other disabilities.

Examples: dyslexia (reading), dyscalculia (number operations), dysgraphia (writing)

• Attention- Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)- is manifested in either or both of these: (1)
difficulty in focusing and maintaining attention and (2) recurrent hyperactivity and impulsive
behavior.

• Speech and Communication Disorders- There is difficulty in spoken language including voice
disorders, inability to produce the sounds… correctly, stuttering, difficulty in spoken language
comprehension that significantly hamper classroom performance.

2. SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTIES

• Autism- Autism is a condition manifested by different levels of impaired social interaction and
communication, repetitive behaviors and limited interest. Individuals with autism usually have
an intense need for routine and a predictable environment.

• Mental Retardation- Mental retardation refers to significant sub-average intelligence and

deficits in adaptive behavior. There is difficulty in managing activities of daily living and in
conducting themselves appropriately in social situations.
 • Emotional/Conduct Disorders- This involves the presence of emotional states like depression
and aggression over a considerable amount of time that they notably disturb learning and
performance in school.

3. PHYSICAL DISABILITIES AND HEALTH IMPAIRMENTS

• Physical and health impairments- This involves physical or medical conditions (usually long
term) including one or more of these: (limited energy and strength, (2) reduced mental
alertness, and/or (3) little muscle control.

• Severe and Multiple Disabilities- This refers to the presence of two or more different types of
disability, at times at a profound level. The combination of disabilities makes it necessary to
make specific adaptions and have more specialized educational programs.

4. SENSORY IMPAIRMENTS

• Visual Impairments- These are conditions when there is malfunction of the eyes or optic nerves
that prevent normal vision even with corrective lenses.

• Hearing Impairments- These involve malfunction of the ear or auditory nerves that hinders
perception of sounds within the frequency range of normal speech.

5. GIFTEDNESS

• Giftedness- This involves a significantly high level of cognitive development. There is unusually
high ability or aptitude in one or more of these aspects; intellectual ability, ability, aptitude in
academic subjects, creativity, visual or performing arts or leadership.

PEOPLE-FIRST LANGUAGE

What is People-First Language? Just as the term would imply, this language trend involves putting the
person first, not the disability (e.g., a person with a disability, not a disabled person). Thus, people-first
language tells us what conditions people have, not what they are (Schiefelbusch Institute, 1996). This is
similar to saying “person with AIDS, rather than “AIDS VICTIM”. Other suggestions for referring to those
with disabilities include:

• Avoiding generic labels (people with mental retardation is preferable to the mentally retarted);

• Emphasizing abilities, not limitations (for instance, uses a wheelchair is preferable to confined
to a wheelchair);

• Avoiding Euphemisms (such as physically-challenged) which are regarded as condescending

and avoid the real issues that result from a disability; and
• Avoiding implying illness or suffering (had polio is preferable to is a polio victim, and has
multiple sclerosis is preferable to suffers from multiple sclerosis) (Department of Physical
Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2000 Schiefelbusch Institute, 1996).