This qualitative study explored how instructional adjustments can be made in primary humanities/STEM subjects teaching to address the needs of students with different readiness levels. Specifically...Show moreThis qualitative study explored how instructional adjustments can be made in primary humanities/STEM subjects teaching to address the needs of students with different readiness levels. Specifically, focusing on differentiation related to goals, instruction, and practice, based on Prast et al.'s (2015) differentiation cycle. To assess this, a group of experts (N=23) was assembled consisting of teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and educational consultants, all of whom were considered experts in the field of differentiation and/or didactics in primary humanities/STEM subjects. The research design consisted of a combination of the Delphi technique and focus groups, in which the experts' views were first obtained individually through a questionnaire. The input from this questionnaire was then used to guide the focus group discussions. Outcomes included that a basic goal for all students in the classroom can be defined and that differentiation lies more in supporting lower-level students and providing additional challenge to higher level students, perhaps less in adjusting goals. Concrete differentiation strategies were discussed by the experts and are described in the results. Follow-up research can focus on which strategies of support and challenge are most efficient and effective and the effect of setting differentiated goals versus a basic whole-class goal on the learning performance of students in the primary humanities/STEM subjects.Show less
