WEBVTT

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My name is Steven Ross.

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I am a senior research
scientist and professor

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at Johns Hopkins University.

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Adaptive instruction is very
important because what's good

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for the group is not necessarily
what that student needs.

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So picture a situation where we
have out-of-school-time learning

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and there are 25 middle school
students sitting in a class

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and listening to a
lecture-and they are tired

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to begin with-on mathematics.

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Well, probably two-thirds

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of those children have already
mastered that material or are

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at a different level
where they are not ready

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to master that material.

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So it's the extent that we
can individualize instruction,

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we are likely to achieve
more successful results.

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There are many computer-based
programs that are available

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that do adapt instruction

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so that while the
out-of-school teacher is dealing

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with the larger group an
individual student could be

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working with the program
and then maybe work

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with the teacher later.

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So technology is
one way of helping

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to individualize instruction.

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Grouping students together
who have similar needs,

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and having small-group
instruction

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where a teacher is dealing
with three to five students

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at a time, is a way of
adapting instruction,

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and then may be dealing with
individual students as the tutor

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or provider has time later.

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Research shows that cooperative
learning can be very effective

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because where you have
high-achieving students

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or higher-achieving
students working

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with lower-achieving students,

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in essence that lower-achieving
student is getting much

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individualized attention where
the teacher is not available.

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How do we make students, many

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of whom may be reluctant
learners during the day,

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struggling learners, how
do we make them interested

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and motivated?

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Well, there is no key solution,

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but in my opinion it doesn't
involve necessarily a lot

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of gadgetry or expense.

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I have personally seen
classrooms with very challenged,

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at-risk learners where they
have had an opportunity

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to do a group activity
on the Internet,

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where they are given a
list of questions to answer

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and safe websites to access.

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And as a group they
access the website,

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look for the information,
have an assignment

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to download information, make a
presentation to the other group;

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a little bit of a
competition is brought in.

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The students are very engaged.

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And I certainly wouldn't
rule out for certain types

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of student populations in
certain types of situations

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for an out-of-school-time
program to have events,

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like museum trips or a
trip to a sporting event

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or a guest speaker that
comes in from the community

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who would be interesting.

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Those types of activities can
not only motivate students

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but they can serve
as an incentive.

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"Hey, let's do really good work
this week with our program,

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and if we do, two weeks
from today we are going

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to arrange to go to the museum."

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As an evaluator of
out-of-school-time programs,

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I have seen many of them.

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There is one example that
stands out in my mind.

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It was an inner-city
middle school.

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I walked into one
of the classrooms.

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A number of students
were on the computer.

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A number of other
students were working

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on a project involving
some science theme

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and didn't even look
up to watch me.

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Other students were
completing their homework.

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Everybody was totally engaged,
and I hung around for a while,

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talked to some students.

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And then a very interesting
thing happened.

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It was five o'clock.

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It had already been a
tremendously long day.

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The bell rang, signaling the end

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of the extended school
day, and no one got up.

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They all continued to
do what they were doing

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and didn't want to leave.

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To me, this was clearly
a situation

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where learning was engaging.