the key finding was that students general cognitive abilities interact with the level of structure provided by the teacher students who score lower on measures of general ability do better in teachercontrolled learning environments in which teachers maintain a high level of control lessons are broken down into small units with direct instruction and frequent feedback the contrary holds for students with higher general ability who benefit from socalled discovery or learnercentred learning environments the concept of adaptive teaching was a response to this realisation in which teachers are seen as best able to make momenttomoment decisions about what works for each of their students as learners gain in aptitude through experience with respect to the instructional goals at hand such teaching adapts by becoming less intrusive