OPEN-ENDED ACTIVITIES - DIFFERENTIATION THROUGH LEARNER RESPONSES

This article explores the meaning of curricular differentiation for id entified gifted students by examining learner responses to open-ended activities. Very little research supports or describes how open-ended activities-which have been advocated as a strategy to allow students t o work in their own interest areas, in their own learning styles, and at their own ability level-serve to differentiate the curriculum. This paper sets curriculum differentiation in a historical perspective, re views a comprehensive investigation into the nature of open-ended acti vities, and focuses on how and in what ways the responses to open-ende d activities of children identified as a gifted differed from response s of children who were not identified as gifted in a third-grade a fou rth-grade heterogeneously grouped classroom. The study also focuses on teacher perceptions of classroom activities and learner responses. Da ta sources included observations over the course of one academic year, interviews with teachers and students, learning style and interest as sessment instruments, and documents related to over 33 open-ended acti vities. Based on the findings reported here, the author proposes a ree xamination of the meaning of curricular differentiation with a renewed emphasis on determining how an instructional strategy, for example, p roviding open-ended activities, maximizes student's capabilities.