Article #2

Article # 2

"Differentiated Physical Learning Environment"

By Alisha Thiessen

Alisha Thiessen (2012), author of Differentiated Physical Learning Environment, starts her research paper by introducing her research questions which are “Is there a correlation between student academic growth in mathematics and a differentiated physical environment within the grade five classroom?” and “Does the use of a differentiated physical environment in the grade five classroom affect the student attitude to the academic subject?” (Thiessen, 2012, pg. 2).

After discussing her research questions, Thiessen then provides a definition of terms list and defines the terms differentiation, learning style and physical environment (Thiessen, 2012, pg. 2). Next, Thiessen discusses literature she has reviewed regarding differentiation and learning styles and refers to article by Tomlinson (2003), author of many books and articles regarding differentiation including Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom. Thiessen also refers to Searson & Dunn (2001), who wrote The learning-style teaching model.

Once Thiessen reviews the literature on differentiation and learning styles, she then considers the methods where she revisits her research questions along with her participants which consist of 47 fifth grade students. Next, Thiessen discusses the instrumentation which is called “The Learning Style Inventory” and based on the Dunn and Dunn model (1995). Then, Thiessen looks at the procedure and explains that the researchers class was the control group and that the “independent variable was the physical learning environment and the dependent variable was the difference in scores on the pre and post- math unit tests”.

Thiessen then explains the results which includes the data analysis and findings and then goes into the discussion which shows that “this research study found that there was no statistical evidence of greater academic achievement for those students who were a part of a differentiated physical environment” (Thiessen, 2012, pg. 16).

After the discussion section, Thiessen goes into her summary and conclusion which brings her to her implications and suggest that although there was not statistical evidence changes in grades, the research is still valuable because “teachers can use the evidence from this study in other subject areas to help students increase their enjoyment of education” (Thiessen, 2012, pg. 17).

Thiessen then talks about the limitations and says that “ideally having one teacher teaching both classes would have helped control for this variable in this study” (Thiessen, 2012, pg. 18). Thiessen also explains that space and money were additional limitations to her study.

Thiessen ends by discussing further study ideas and suggest future studies could look at the impact differentiated physical environment would have on other subject areas and other grade levels (Thiessen, 2012, pg. 18).

                                                            Reflection

            After reviewing Thiessen's research paper I was very impressed with how she organized her paper. For instance, she started the paper by introducing the topic of differentiation and the need for differentiation the classroom. Then, she clearly wrote her two research questions so the reader knew exactly what Thiessen was looking for in her research. I think Thiessen did a great job at defining the terms differentiation, learning profile and physical environment so that the reader was aware of what she was talking about throughout her paper. I really liked that Thiessen used a number of different sources to guide her framework for her study such as Tomlinson’s (2003) text on differentiation in the classroom. I also liked the idea of using a pre-and post-test as a way to study the effects physical environment had on differentiation. Although Thiessen did not find any statistical evidence that backed her original claims, Thiessen did a great job at discussing what she would have done differently and providing future research study ideas surrounding this topic.

Reference

Thiessen, A. (2012). Differentiated Physical Learning Environment. Pro Rege. Retrieved from

http://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021