Using a Variety of Differentiated
Instructional Strategies to Cater for the Learning Needs of Gifted/ More Able Students
in STEM Education (Secondary) (Re-run)
Mr Louis Wong 1 Mar 2022
Key objectives for this sharing
● Sharing on practice about the online STEM lesson practices
● For example, technologically how to monitor students' progress?
● How do you differentiate the product of students work to provide various avenue for students to demonstrate their innovation?
● how do you offer challenging but appropriate task to learners?
Background about the school
● Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School
● Private independent school for boys and girls aged 6–
18, ranging from primary through to International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma students
Background about the subject
● Our school started including STEM in the regular timetable 3 years ago
● For secondary Year 6 (P1) and Year 7 (S1) students only
○ These students only received around 12 weeks per year
○ i.e. 1.5 hour x 12 = 18 hours per year (Face to face teaching)
○ i.e. 1 hour x 12 = 12 hours per year (Online teaching)
● They also received STEM lessons in STEM (focusing on
‘maker’) in primary school
● ICT is another subject available in both primary and secondary
Course outline - Stem -
Year 6 and Year 7
● Year 6○ SCAMPER Method○ Microbit Project Design (Onboard functions mainly)
■ If-then-else, Variables, ...
■ Light sensor, Temperature sensor, ...
■ Buzzer, LEDs, ...
● Year 7
○ Microbit Project Design
■ Radio
■ Breakout board (iot:bit)
● Push-button module
● Onboard buzzer
● OLED
● Infrared sensor
● ...
Week 3 - 4: Radio project on paper-scissor-rock Week 5 - 7: Digital Piano project
Week 8: OLED and Infrared sensor
Week 9 - 11: Basketball arcade machine project
Week 3 - 4: Radio project on paper-scissor-rock Week 5 - 7: Digital Piano project
Week 8: OLED and Infrared sensor
Week 9 - 11: Basketball arcade machine project
Week 3 - 4: Radio project on paper-scissor-rock Week 5 - 7: Digital Piano project
Week 8: OLED and Infrared sensor
Week 9 - 11: Basketball arcade machine project
https://bit.ly/20211005CKY
Tiered assignment
Utilise gif on google docs
“Video to gif”
How to do this online?
-Ask the students to type the number in the Google Meet
chat room once they finished the task and uploaded the snapshot on their Google doc
Anchor activity - Infrared sensor - useful for the next project
Week 3 - 4: Radio project on paper-scissor-rock Week 5 - 7: Digital Piano project
Week 8: OLED and Infrared sensor
Week 9 - 11: Basketball arcade machine project
Flow of week 9 to 11
Week 9: Introduction of the project
● Elicit the thinking with existing product or past year student projects
● Explain the expectation of the project Week 10: First draft & Debugging
● Support the lower achievers, hopefully ensure they can do the basic tasks
● Challenge the higher achievers, e.g. adding servo motor?
Week 11: Presentation and evaluation
Project - Engineering design process
Criteria rubrics + self-evaluation
(week 9-11 - basketball machine)
Reiterating the format (week 1 - step counter)
Extra features e.g.
● adding a celebrating sound effect for each 100 steps achieved
● the number display is shown only when the Microbit is facing up
● A warning when the temperature is too high
Reiterating the format (week 2 to 3 - paper scissor rock)
Reiterating the format (week 4 to 6 - Digital piano)
Extra features e.g.
● Change octaves
● Change volume
● Using radio for remote output
● Using other
sensors for input
Padlet
Digital piano project https://padlet.com/wong l21/wv0idr9eces6t44f
Basketball arcade machine project
https://padlet.com/wong l21/rw74e7qxqtwv376z
Advantages of using padlet + pre-recorded video
1. More efficient lesson flow + time management 2. Engage all students for discussion
3. Star rating system
4. Seeing other good project videos from classmates may motivate students to prepare better
5. No excuses for “sudden” technical errors
6. Useful for future school work display
Padlet setting Reminders
-Require approval: ON -Comment: Off before the lessons
