Abstract:

IIndividualized teaching does not mean "closing" the student in his cognitive style, but enriching the spectrum of instructional strategies, so that he has the chance to find the procedure for quickly and correctly solving a learning task. These approaches have nothing to do with the constraints determined by the emulation of school regulations, rewards or punishments, nor with the manipulation of students through "attractive" didactic methods and means that sometimes give learning a superficial character, but with the activation of the need and the polarization of interest directly on the objective targeted in the didactic activity. Differentiated pedagogy supports the idea that each student should practice several learning strategies, of free choice, with the teacher being the one who "injects strategic hint" in a successive way, according to the needs and interest of the students in relation to the work task. Taking into account the Progressive Learning Model developed by Michel Minder (2007), based on monitoring learning in three steps, we can say that the teacher's role is to monitor and guide students throughout the lesson. Thus, directing and self-directing learning ensures both the diagnosis of learning difficulties, their remediation and individual progress.

In a pedagogical study carried out in 10 classes of the primary cycle, we resorted to real-time piloting of students' progress in solving some work tasks, following the algorithm of successive strategic differentiation: self-directed learning (step 1: learning by trial and error), directing learning by inserting personalized cues according to the difficulties encountered (step 2: insight) and operant conditioning (step 3: following instructions – guidance). After five weeks in which the students in the studied sample solved tasks specific to different educational disciplines, the results were conclusive in terms of progress in learning but also increased interest and active involvement in teaching activities.

Keywords:

Differentiated pedagogy, strategic hint, heuristic learning, insight, operant conditioning.