ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to provide some background knowledge and practical suggestions for how to accommodate diversity within the science classroom through differentiation. Teachers can plan to cater for diversity and provide opportunities for students with choice in the science curriculum through the use of a menu. Teachers can provide students with choice and flexibility by allowing them to select which activities they would like to complete from a board with nine options. Despite the diversity in every classroom, it is common for teachers, especially beginning teachers, to teach to the middle. Carol Ann Tomlinson suggests that modifications to the content, process, product and learning environment should be considered in light of the teacher’s knowledge about their students’ readiness, interests and learning profiles. Teachers can gather information about their students’ readiness through a number of strategies, including informal diagnostic tests, quizzes, short-answer tests or a quick informal discussion.
