| The primary purpose of this quantitative online study was to assess the extent to which Technology Education teachers in the state of North Carolina understand and use differentiated instructional components. Additionally, this study examined the differences between novice and experienced TED teachers' understanding and use of differentiated instructional components. Differentiated instruction is a philosophy which governs practices for addressing the needs of academically diverse students within the classroom. Modifications are made to the content, process, products and learning environment. Data collected from 127 Technology Education teachers were organized, analyzed, and summarized using descriptive statistics. The independent variable was years of teaching experience and the dependent variables are (1) understanding and (2) use of differentiated instruction. For the purpose of this investigation, years of teaching experience has been divided into two subgroups: 5 years or less (novice) and 6 years or more (experienced). Findings relating to research questions two and four were analyzed with Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The mean scores were analyzed to determine statistical significance between novice and experienced TED teachers. The null hypotheses were set at an alpha confidence of 95% and probability p-value of .05. Results are presented using tables and narrative descriptions. The statistical package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. A composite analysis was used for the categories of differentiated instruction (general, content, process, product, and learning environment).;The findings suggest that TED teachers collectively understand and use differentiated instructional components. However, as it relates to years of teaching experience, novice and experienced statistically differed in their understanding of content differentiation, process differentiation, and product differentiation. Additionally, TED novice teachers reported using the component of product differentiation the least. |
