Fostering students’ motivation is an important aspect of good and effective instruction (Brophy & Good, 1986; Helmke, 2003). However, teachers often have problems to foster students’ motivation especially in diverse classes where manifold individual needs have to be met. From a theoretical point of view, we refer to the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) to explain how students can be motivated. According to this theory, it is important to support students in their autonomy as well as their feeling of competence. This means for teachers that they have to edit the teaching material in a way that it matches the individual needs for autonomy and competence. Tasks on different difficulty levels are one of several examples that can be mentioned here.

In the present study, we want to investigate whether a new teaching approach which was developed for considering the diverse needs of students in the classroom has a positive impact on students’ motivation. The study is a case study conducted in a German comprehensive school. In this school type, students are normally separated from the seventh grade on into so called ‘basic’ and ‘advanced’ courses according to their learning level. The school presented here has changed this model of external differentiation, because most teachers recognised a negative learning atmosphere and only low motivation in the ‘basic courses’. The teachers developed a new approach envisaging that students on all different learning levels are in the same learning group. Learning materials were developed for different levels and the students have high autonomy when choosing the task corresponding to their abilities. Instruction according to this model means that students on all learning levels learn together and support each other.  This new approach was introduced in chemistry instruction and in language instruction (german).

Brophy, J., & Good, T. L. (1986). Teacher behavior and student achievement. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 328-375). New York: Macmillan. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum. Helmke, A. (2003). Unterrichtsqualität - erfassen, bewerten, verbessern (3. ed.). Seelze: Kallmeyer.