Teaching strategies in multigrade classrooms and their implications for digital environments: a literature review

Abstract

Multigrade classrooms are a widely extended curricular strategy in primary and secondary education worldwide in areas with complex geographic or sociodemographic problems. Now, while its relevance to these contexts is recognized, there is also a worrying distance between its implementation and educational demands in a highly globalized and technologically mediated world. To address this issue, a systematic review of the literature on multigrade classrooms was carried out in order to identify their main teaching strategies and, from there, propose some implications for learning environments supported by digital technologies. The results of the review show a wide diversity of teaching strategies and confirm an almost total disconnection with digital technologies to support the creation of personal learning spaces and the collaborative construction of knowledge.