Abstract

STEM students lose engagement and show poor academic performance if student diversity is not appropriately addressed in curriculum delivery. So, differentiation must be included in lesson planning. This study integrated differentiated instruction in STEM classes to improve student mathematical engagement and academic performance in Grade 11 Statistics and Probability. The study utilized practical action research inspired by the Plan-Do-Study-Act model with 100 participants with diverse learning preferences and interests. Differentiated instruction strategies in mathematics education, such as technological tool integration, previous knowledge assessment, parallel tasks, and open questions, were implemented in two STEM sections. Before implementing differentiated instruction, there was student profiling, a pre-test, and a pre-survey. After ten weeks of consistent DI integration, post-tests, post-surveys, and interviews were conducted to elicit data. The results showed that differentiated instruction improved the student mathematical engagement behaviorally, cognitively, emotionally, and socially. Hence, they performed better academically since the pre-test and post-test scores established the statistical difference. Differentiated instruction strategies successfully improved the student's academic performance on the examination. Also, students gained confidence in dealing with mathematical problems integrated into real-life situations.

Keywords

References

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