Strategies & Tips for Helping Students Who Struggle with STEM

Every student has their own unique learning style and current skill set. This creates a challenge for teachers, who are tasked with finding a way to engage and effectively teach all students, regardless of current skill, confidence level, and preferred learning style. This is often referred to as differentiated instruction, which focuses on tailoring teaching methods to meet the diverse needs of each student.

Here are effective ways to implement differentiated instruction to benefit the classroom:

• • Create Learning Stations: Throughout the classroom, educators can have learning stations that facilitate the lesson in a variety of ways. Each station, while teaching the same material, can cater to a different learning style – interactive, reading, audio, and more.
  • Alternate Assessment Types: Oftentimes assessments are thought of as pen-and-paper tests to gauge a student’s success in a given subject. While traditional assessments are a great tool for educators, they are not the only option. Educators can rotate between written assessments, talking assessments, activities, and other methods to gauge student success. This variety will allow left and right-brained students to show off their skills.

• Implement the Think-Pair-Share Method: In the Think-Pair-Share Method, students think about a question on their own. Then, once they have had time to thoughtfully approach the question, they are paired with another student to talk about it and share their unique opinions. To finish, students share their thoughts with the larger group, creating an open forum for discussion. This approach allows all students to get involved, regardless of their current confidence or skill level.