Differentiation

Gifted Students- Gifted students may need additional activities to keep them engaged in the lesson, particularly if they finish early. A nice thing about this structured web activity is that the open-ended assessment, really allows students to express their knowledge and make connections through reasoning and sense making. Gifted students should be encouraged to communicate their exact methodology and solution. If students do, however, need additional activities, ask them to complete the Brain Teaser Activity. If students still need more, a link to several graph theory puzzles (run through a Java applet) is found under Student Materials on the Materials page.

Below Grade Level- Students performing below grade level often perform poorly because lesson are not intriguing to them or because they have not been instructed in a way that is suitable to their learning style. Because students have options about the manner in which they determine their solution, students may use whatever styles work best for them, giving them the best chance at being successful. Furthermore, a good amount of scaffolding is provided, which should help students make connections and improve their reasoning and sense making abilities.

Reading and Language Challenged- Since the activity and resources are available in electronic format, students can use Accessibility Features, such as text-to-speech and magnifying tools, to help with their specific challenge. For students with whose primary language is not English, seeing the written text while hearing it spoken will not only help them to complete the activity, but it will also work to improve their understanding of the langauge.

Cognitive and Physical Challenged- With material provided for both the internet use and for print use, students who may be unable to use computers due to poor fine motor skills can complete the task using the print version, though accommodations may need to be made for website resources. Since students are grouped, however, it should be possible for one group member to use the online resources, while the physically challenged student can use the paper version. Students with limited gross motor skills should be able to use the web as usual, with normal accomodations.