Teaching the Scientist, Not Just the Science: Why Individualised Instruction Matters

Science education must do more than teach students facts and formulas. It should also guide them to think critically, ask questions, and grow as individuals. However, in classrooms filled with diverse learning preferences and ability levels, that’s no small task. 

Individualised instruction offers a way forward, helping teachers meet each student where they are without sacrificing instructional goals. And with the right digital tools, this approach becomes not only achievable but sustainable. In this blog post, we’ll explore the concept of individualised instruction and how Education Perfect helps science teachers provide it to every learner.  

What Is Individualised Instruction in Science Education?

Individualised instruction in science involves tailoring science learning experiences to match each student’s unique needs, strengths, and goals. It goes beyond teaching the same lesson to everyone and instead focuses on engaging each student in ways that aid their unique learning process. 

A few examples include adapting a lab activity so that a student with less experience builds foundational skills while others work on more complex variables. It also looks like providing scaffolded inquiry tasks or assigning self-paced online modules to select students. 

What’s The Difference Between Individualised, Differentiated, and Personalised Instruction? 

Individualised instruction is often used interchangeably with differentiated and personalised instruction. However, they all differ in the level of customisation provided to the student. Differentiated instruction provides the lowest level of customisation as it addresses the needs of all students in a classroom, regardless of individual skill or ability levels.

Personalised instruction offers a higher level of customisation, and unlike differentiated and individualised teaching, it provides students with more control and the ability to direct their own learning. Finally, individualised instruction provides the most customisation of the three because it explicitly tailors and builds instruction around each student’s individual needs.

The latter approach is particularly important in science, where concepts often build upon each other, as students come to the subject with diverse backgrounds and varying levels of awareness. This calls for a more customised style of instruction that ensures every student arrives at a robust understanding of lesson content by following a personalised pathway. 

Why Does Individualised Instruction Matter?

Individualised instruction offers the following benefits:

Increased Educational Equity

Individualised instruction helps level the playing field by ensuring every student—regardless of background or ability—has access to meaningful, relevant learning opportunities. Teachers can adjust content delivery, pacing, and support based on each student’s background, thereby ensuring neurodivergent students, students from varied cultural or linguistic backgrounds, and other types of learners thrive.  

Enhanced Student Engagement and Motivation

Individualised instruction boosts student engagement by connecting lessons to students’ interests and learning styles while also ensuring instruction matches their readiness. When students see that science is relevant and accessible, they’re more likely to actively participate and take ownership of their learning. 

Improved Understanding and Retention 

When learning is tailored to each learner’s readiness levels and interests, students can process key concepts in their own way, at their own pace. This approach supports deeper comprehension and retention because instruction responds to students’ individual needs rather than forcing them to learn in a way that doesn’t suit them. 

How Education Perfect Enables Individualised Instruction in Science

EP makes it easy to individualise science instruction with the following features:

Learning Diagnostics That Identify Strengths and Gaps

EP’s assessments quickly highlight what students know and where they need support. For example, a science teacher can use a diagnostic test on ecosystems to identify students struggling with food webs. They can then decide to re-teach concepts, adjust pacing, or assign targeted practice.

Customisable Content to Support Every Learner

EP’s content is fully customisable, empowering educators to adapt science resources to support their teaching style and deliver high-quality, targeted instruction to every student. For instance, a teacher could modify a Year 8 lesson on plate tectonics to include more accessible language for learners for students with reading disabilities. 

Smart Recommendations That Guide Targeted Practice

With our platform, teachers can assign targeted follow-up tasks tailored to each student’s performance. Say a student misses key questions on atoms and radioactivity. EP’s Recommended Tasks feature might suggest that the student revisit a lesson on atomic structure to improve their understanding of core concepts before progressing to another lesson. 

Instant Feedback to Accelerate Student Growth

Our AI Feedback Tool provides students with instant, personalised feedback for extended response answers. This helps accelerate learning by giving students helpful and actionable insights when they need it so they can improve their work immediately. For example, a student working on an energy lesson could receive AI-powered feedback on their response contrasting the different types of energy, enabling them to improve their answer next time. 

Accessible content for all learners

EP Science offers a wide range of content designed to support diverse learners, including those with varying literacy levels, learning styles, and support needs. Lessons incorporate visual aids, interactive simulations, narrated videos, and built-in scaffolding to make complex scientific concepts more approachable. This ensures that every student—regardless of ability or background—can engage meaningfully with the content and build confidence in science.

Planning and Delivering Personalised Instruction with Education Perfect

Here’s an example of how science teachers can bring individualised instruction to life using Education Perfect tools:

Sample Workflow Using EP Tools 

1. Plan and deliver the course: Use EP’s Discover feature to find resources on key topics based on the curriculum (e.g. biological science for Year 10 students). Then, leverage the Course Planner to align what you want to teach throughout the year to EP topics.
2. Customise and assign topics based on students’ learning levels: Using student performance data from the Insights feature, determine which lessons or questions to assign. Modify EP lessons to meet the needs of students. For example, if students previously struggled with the genetics lesson, assign modified tasks that include scaffolded explanations or more context. 
3. Direct students through their learning pathway: Guide students through the EP lesson by leading it at the front of the class or working with smaller groups who’ve been assigned different EP lesson content. Students work on the lesson at their own pace while receiving scaffolded support and instant feedback. Monitor student progress and use the data to identify who needs additional support or extension. 
4. Support mastery through feedback and reflection: As students progress through their pathways, use data to provide targeted feedback and plan follow-up lessons or tasks. This way, students can reflect on their learning and build ownership of their science learning journey. 

Individualised Instruction Starts With the Right Tools

By tailoring instruction to each student’s unique needs, science teachers make sure that every learner has the potential to succeed. Without the right tools and data, however, teachers will struggle to individualise instruction and improve outcomes in science learning. 

Fortunately, with Education Perfect, personalising learning is practical and sustainable. Our tools provide teachers with data-driven insights and flexible content to meet the needs of every learner, ensuring they thrive in the classroom and beyond.

Ready to bring individualised instruction into your classroom? Start your free trial or book a demo with us today!