UNIT 2.

2 STUDENT
DIVERSITY
Module 4
In d i v i d u a l D i ff e r e n c e s

Learning outcomes:

• identify the different factors that bring about

diversity in the classroom.
• demonstrate a positive attitude towards diversity as
an enriching element in the learning environment.
• come up with teaching strategies that consider
student diversity.
Advance Organizer

Individual Differences
(Student Diversity)

Classroom
Individual Differences
Strategies for
Factors
Student Diversity

Benefits of
Diversity in the
Classroom
ACTIVITY
(Sample answer)
Introduction
You've probably heard
someone say,
"Everyone is unique."
Though it sounds really
like a cliché, one cannot
ignore the truth in it.
As a facilitator of
learning, the teacher is
tasked to consider the
individual differences
among the students in
planning for effective
instruction.
Abstraction/Generalization

Factors that Bring about

Student Diversity
1. Socioeconomic status - the
millionaires' lifestyle differs from that of the
middle
income or lower income group.
2. Thinking/learning style - some of you
learn better by seeing something; others by
jjust listening, and still others by manipulating
something. (You will leam more of these in
Module 5).
3. Exceptionalities- in class there maybe
one who has difficulty in spoken language
comprehension or in seeing, hearing, etc
How Student Diversity Enriches the
Learning Environment
• A teacher may be "challenged" to handle a
class with students so diverse .There may be
students having different cultural
background, different language abilities,
different attitudes and aptitudes and
behaviors.
• Some teachers might see this diversity as a
difficulty predicament, really a hassle! Yet a
more reflective teacher may see a diverse
classroom as an exciting place to learn not
just for her students, but for herself, as well.
• A wise teacher may choose to respect and
celebrate diversity!
Benefits and
Learning
opportunities that
student diversity
can bring to
classroom
1. Students' self-awareness is
enhanced by diversity.
• Exposing students to others with
diverse backgrounds and
experiences also serves to help
students focus on their
awareness of themselves. When
they see how others different.
students are given reference
point or comparative perspectives
which sharpen assessment of
their own attitudes, values and
behaviors.
2. Student diversity contributes to
cognitive development.
The opportunity to gain access to the
perspectives of peers and to learn from other
students, rather
than the instructors only, may be especially
important for promoting the cognitive
development of learners.
Supreme Court Justice, Willian J. Brennan said.
"The classroom is peculiarly the 'marketplace of
ideas. The depth and breadth of student learning
are enhanced by exposure to others from diverse
backgrounds. Student diversity in the classroom
brings about different point of view and varied
approaches to the learning process.
3. Student diversity prepares
learners for their roles as responsible
members of society.
• Suzanne Morse stresses one competency
that has strong implications for instructional
strategies that capitalize on diversity: "The
capacity to imagine situations or problems
from all perspectives and to appreciate all
aspects of diversity. Furthermore, she
argues: "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 practiced.
4. Student diversity can promote
harmony.
• When student diversity is integrated into
the classroom teaching and learning
process, it can become a vehicle for
promoting harmonious race relations.
Through students-centered teaching
strategies, diverse students can be
encouraged to interact and collaborate
with one another on learning tasks that
emphasize unity of effort while
capitalizing on their diversity of
backgrounds.
Some Tips on
Student
Diversity
1. Encourage learners to
share their personal history
and experiences. Students
will be made to realize that
they have something in
common with the rest. They
also differ in several ways.
2. Integrate learning experiences and activities
which promote students' multicultural and cross-
cultural awareness.
• You can encourage or even initiate co-curricular experiences that
are aimed at promoting diversity awareness. These activities
could be held to coincide with already-schedules national weeks
or months which are designated for appreciation of diverse
groups: Disability Awareness Week, Linggo ng Wika,
indigenous People's Week, etc.
3. Aside form highlighting diversity, identify
patterns of unity that transcend group differences.
Clyde Kluckholn, an early American anthropologist who spent a
lifetime studying human diversity across different cultures,
concluded from his extensive research that, "Every human is, at
the same time, like all other humans, like some humans, and
like no other human" (cited in Wong 1991). His observation
suggests a paradox in the human experience, namely: We are all
the same in different ways.
It may be important to point out to students the biological reality that
we, human being, share approximately 95% of our genes in
common, and that less than 5% of our genes account for the
physical differences that exist among us.
When focusing on human differences, these commonalities should
not be overlooked. otherwise, our repeated attempts to promote
student diversity may inadvertently promote student divisiveness.
One way to minimize this risk, and promote unity along with diversity,
is to stress the universality" of the learning experience by raising
students' consciousness of common themes that bind all groups of
people- in addition to highlighting the variations on those themes.
• Periodically place students in homogenous groups on the basis of
shared demographic characteristics (e.g., same gender groups
or same-race/ethnicity groups), and have them share their
personal views or experiences with respect to course issues.
Then form a panel comprised of representatives from each group
who will report their group's ideas.
4. Communicate high expectations to students from all subgroups.
Make a conscious attempt to call on, or draw in students from diverse groups by
using effective questioning techniques that reliably elicit student involvement. In
addition to consciously calling on them in class, other strategies for "drawing in" and
involving students include:
(a) assigning them the role of report in small-group discussions, i.e., the one
who reports back the group's ideas to the class, and
(b) having them engaged in paired discussions with another classmate with
the stipulation that each partner must take turns assuming the role of both
listener and speaker, and
(c) scheduling instructor-student conferences with them outside the
classroom
Learn the names of your students, especially the foreign names that you may
have difficulty pronouncing. This will enable you to establish early personal
rapport with them which can later serve as a social/emotional foundation or
springboard for encouraging them to participate.
5. Use varied instructional methods to accommodate
student diversity in learning styles.
Diversify the sensory/perceptual modalities through which you deliver
and present information (e.g., orally, in print, diagrammatic and
pictorial representations, or "hands on experiences).
Diversify the instructional formats or procedures you use in
class:
Use formats that are student-centered (e.g., class discussions,
small group work) and teacher-centered (e.g.. lectures,
demonstrations).
Use formats that are unstructured (e.g., trial-and-error discovery
learning) and structured (e.g.. step-by-step instructions).
Use procedures that involve both independent learning
( independently completed projects, individual presentations)
and interdependent learning ( collaborative learning in pairs or
small groups).
6. Vary the examples you use to illustrate concepts in order to
provide multiple contexts that are relevant to students from diverse
backgrounds
Specific strategies for providing multiple examples and varied contexts that
are relevant to their varied backgrounds include the following:
• Have students complete personal information cards during the first week
of class and use this information to select examples or illustrations that
are relevant to their personal interests and life experiences.
• Use ideas, comments and questions that students raise in class, or
which they choose to write about to help you think of examples and
illustrations to use.
• Ask students to provide their own examples of
concepts based on experiences drawn from their
personal lives.
• Have students apply concepts by placing them in
a situation or context that is relevant to their lives
("How would you show respect to all persons in
your home?").
7. Adapt to the students' diverse backgrounds and learning
styles by allowing them personal choice and decision-making
opportunities concerning what they will learn and how they will
learn

Giving the learner more decision-making opportunity with respect to

learning tasks:

1.promotes positive student attitudes toward the subject

matter
2.fosters more positive interactions among students,
3.results in students working more consistently with lesser
teacher intervention.
8. Diversify your methods of assessing and evaluating
student learning.
You can accommodate student diversity not only by varying what you do with
your teaching, but also by varying what you ask students to do to demonstrate
learning.
In addition to the traditional paper-and-pencil teat and written assignments,
students can demonstrate their learning in a variety of performance
frats, such as:
• (a) individually-delivered oral reports,
• (b) panel presentations,
• (c)group projects,
• (d) visual presentations, (e.g., concept amps, slide presentations, Power
Point presentations, collages, exhibits), or
• (e) dramatic vignettes-presented live or on videotape.
9.Purposely, form small-discussion groups of students from diverse
backgrounds. You can form groups of students with different learning
styles, different cultural background

Small peer-learning groups may be effective for promoting student

progress to a more advanced stage of cognitive development.
1.the instructor is removed from center stage, thereby reducing the likelihood
that the teacher is perceived as the ultimate or absolute authority;

2. students are exposed to the perspectives of other students, thus increasing their
appreciation of multiple viewpoints and different approaches to learning.
THANK YOU!
APPLICATION 1: APPLICATION 2:
Explain what each Image Describe/present the concept on
communicates about diversity. “Individual differences” by
(Make a short explanation about means of making a short poem.
the picture below)Consist of 10 Poem consist of
sentences only 1 stanza with 4 line.A
____________
IN 1 WHOLE
_____________
SHEET OF PAPER
______________
ANSWER
______________
APPLICATION 1
and
APPLICATION 2
(Back to back)