Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity 5

Balancing Students’ Authentic Knowledge Creation and Co-Creation of 
Knowledge
Following the UDL approach, a shared learning context for all the 
students in the class was created, although particularly considerable attention was 
allocated to the creation of learning alternatives and the possibility of learning in 
different ways and using different means. Being able to learn alone, in pairs, in 
groups or all together contributes to balancing the individual and to the collective 
creation of knowledge. The action research revealed the methods discovered by the 
teachers to organise lessons by ensuring the individual and collective creation of 
knowledge in parallel. All the students were included in the co-creation of knowl-
edge through the use of various prerequisites to support each other’s learning.
The Use of Created Possibilities for Learning in One’s Own Style in the General 
Context of Contact Learning
The observation of lessons revealed that the chil-
dren’s group work, a visual thinking tool (a comparative table titled ‘Informal letter- 
formal letter’) and an extra help tool (examples of how to fill in the comparative 
table) used as scaffolds to promote children’s thinking established favourable condi-
tions for students to learn in their own learning style. The situation presented further 
shows how Just
ė used her learning style in the UDL context. She is most successful 
at being a proactive learner, communicating, raising questions and using scaffolds 
for the whole class (systemising information, additional information, etc.). She read 
the text of the letters and the names of the two parts of the comparative table aloud, 
asked her group friends questions (e.g. ‘Is this formal or informal (showing the 
text)?’) and checked with them whether she was thinking in the right direction. 
When her group members did not answer her question of how to formulate a com-
plaint in a formal letter in English, the student raised her hand and asked the teacher, 
who answered, ‘Make a complaint’. Thus, the student’s vocabulary was expanded 
by introducing new concepts. The student actively used an extra help tool. Using 
help from her group friends, Just
ė corrected the farewell phrases of the informal 
letter from ‘please’ to ‘love you’ and ‘bye’. She finished the formal letter using the 
teacher’s explanation, only in her own form: ‘(Dear Sir/Madam) Yours faithfully; 
(Dear Mr./Mrs.) Yours sincerely
’ (Observation, 11). Reflecting on her own learning, 
Just
ė emphasised that the independent search for information is an acceptable way 
A. Galkien
ė and O. Monkevičienė

---

167
of learning for her ‘because you can discuss with your group members. Reading can 
help you to memorise better, and your group members can help you too. ...
[When 
you work on your own,] you see what you don’t know. And you can also ask the 
teacher. And when the teacher tells you everything, then you think—ok, I’ll remem-
ber this, I’ll know that. I won’t need to learn this. And then you don’t learn every-
thing you have to
’ (Reflection with students, 11). The discussed fragment shows 
that the created learning situation was favourable for her to learn in her own style—
through collaborative learning.