8 ◆ Defnitions and Models for Diferentiation: An Introduction
We need to help students keep track of multiple sources, experiments, or facts so they can appropriately
evaluate and synthesize multiple
sources. When students are learning how to reason in depth, models and
frameworks can support their new learning. Appendix B provides two models for organizing the data,
resources, processes, events, texts, or persons/characters of study around a debatable question. While we
discuss debatable questions here, know that problem-based scenarios can be used instead of specifc ques-
tions to add depth. Each of the discipline-specifc chapters that follow in this book also provide detailed
examples of how debatable questions or scenarios/problems are used to support in-depth thinking.
Diferentiation Feature: Complexity
Add a variable and examine the relationships or connections.
Experts understand that when solving problems or analyzing and interpreting events, multiple
relationships must be considered. In order to differentiate instruction and help students think in more
complex ways we, as educators, need to help students understand the foundational elements that
make up a feld or thinking process and teach students how these elements or factors are interrelated.
For example, historians who are interpreting a past event don’t just consider the geographic location
of the event, they also consider how geography, political influences, and economics impacted or influ-
enced actions. Similarly, literary analysts understand that it is not simply one element that determines
a theme. Instead, they examine how multiple elements influence the others. For example, setting influ-
ences characters and their motivation, which collectively leads to how one interprets the text or arrives
at a theme. When planning for innovation, scientists don’t just look at their own experiments and meth-
ods, they understand how cumulative scientifc information can be replicated or built upon in ways
that new methods or measures can be used to ask or model new questions, determine new patterns, or
adjust the scale. As such, adding complexity as a differentiation strategy occurs by layering elements
in ways that help students see connections and relationships between and among different variables.
Appendix A provides several content-specifc models (or analysis wheels) to guide teachers in dif-
ferentiating questions and activities and support students in thinking like an expert. The wheels were
designed after studying content-based standards and talking with experts about how they think about
texts, problems, or events in their feld. As the wheels were designed, we shared the models again with
experts in the feld for vetting.
The analysis wheels support differentiated and complex instruction for the teacher and the learner.
For example, teachers may use the wheels to differentiate tasks and questions or to model thinking by
explicitly teaching the model to students or asking them to refer to the model when processing infor-
mation. When modeling thinking, a gradual release approach that moves students from teacher-led
modeling in a whole group setting to small group work and individual completion with follow-up dis-
cussions allows students the opportunity to make their own connections and work toward independ-
ence. The frst time a student is exposed to the wheel, it is recommended that teachers explicitly model
how to use the wheel, guiding students from simple to complex thinking questions – encouraging
students to use the model as a way of thinking and asking questions every time they encounter a text,
problem, event, experiment, or scenario. The goal is for students to internalize the thinking processes
required in each discipline. After students are comfortable with the wheel, they may complete it on
their own or in small groups, drawing arrows to show connections between different variables. Stu-
dents may complete the wheel on their own as a prerequisite for a group discussion, Socratic seminar,
debate, or experiment, for example.
The wheels can also be used as part of a tiered assignment as differentiated questions or tasks
from the wheel can be assigned to various groups of students based on readiness and mastery
of standards through learning centers, contracts, reading groups, or individualized instruction.
Each content-specifc chapter in this book provides more detailed examples for using the wheel