Rethinking Instructional Delivery for Diverse Student Populations

Abstract

When students arrive at content classes reading below grade level, teachers are challenged to deliver complex content. Also, students often study facts without reaching larger concepts. Research at the University of Oregon has concluded that if the teacher takes responsibility for identifying and elucidating the concept within course materials, both of these difficulties can be overcome. Overt identification of concepts and their characteristics and the deliberate use of graphic organizers reduce the reading comprehension demands placed on students with low abilities. Using the functional taxonomy presented, teachers can develop effective student exercises and assessments. An example shows that students provided with the concept-based approach outperformed students in a more traditional classroom on a problem-solving task.