Abstract

• The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of differentiated instruction on higher order and lower-order thinking skills of middle school students in mathematics. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were conducted to obtain the required data. The design adopted for quantitative study was one of the quasi-experimental designs, non-equivalent control group design. The subjects were (30) Grade Six students from BEHS (Tamarkone) in Wundwin Township, (67) Grade Six students from BEMS (1) in Wundwin Township, (140) Grade Six students from BEHS (1) in Thazi Township and (59) Grade Six students from BEHS (Khetmauk) in Thazi Township. The instruments used in the study were pretest, learning style inventory, posttest and interview questions. Experimental groups were taught with differentiated instruction, while the control groups were taught the same concept using formal method. Students’ higher-order thinking skills and lower-order thinking skills on posttest were compared using one-way ANCOVA. The results showed that there were significant differences between middle school students who receive differentiated instruction and those who do not receive it in performing higher-order thinking level questions and lower-order thinking level questions in all selected schools. The interview findings pointed out that the teachers who taught the experimental groups had positive attitudes towards differentiated instructional design. Therefore, it can be concluded that differentiated instruction is a very suitable and valuable instructional design for teaching of mathematics.