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Web-Based History Learning EnvironmentsHelping All Students Learn and Like History
Abstract
This article explores the benefits of the Internet to enhance history instruction for all learners. The authors describe a Web-based learning environment, the Virtual History Museum (VHM), that helps teachers create motivating, inquiry-based history units. VHM also allows teachers to build supports for learners with disabilities or other learning challenges. A pilot study that demonstrated the impact of the VHM on history learning and participation of eighth-grade students with mild disabilities is discussed.
... Also, further studies should include a larger population of students and equal numbers of students from both the traditional and virtual settings. Okolo, Englert, Bouck, and Heutsche (2007) conducted a pilot study to determine the effectiveness of learning history in a Web-based learning environment using the Virtual History Museum (VHM). VHM is a collection of artifacts, historical objects that include copies of primary source documents, pictures, photographs, videos, and music. ...
... The students with disabilities wrote fewer words and their writing ability limited their ability to communicate what they learned. Okolo, Englert, Bouck, and Heutsche (2007) concluded that VHM is a powerful Web-based technology tool. VHM can provide access to history to all students with a multimedia approach including assistive technology supports. ...
... A comparison of students completing a unit in VHM could have been compared to students learning the same subject matter in a traditional format. Okolo, Englert, Bouck, and Heutsche (2007) have written a manuscript that describes the study in detail but has not yet been published. ...
... Classroom discussion is a key feature of productive social studies instruction and offers multiple benefits for students with disabilities and their teachers (Ferretti et al., 2001;Okolo, Englert, Bouck, & Heutsche, 2007). It provides access to learning that is not bound to the relatively unresponsive formats of textbooks and lectures. ...
... In one study, students with mild disabilities made knowledge gains comparable to students without disabilities and to students in an honors class. Students with disabilities were more highly engaged during social studies instruction with VHM than without (Okolo, Englert, Bouck, & Heutsche, 2007;Okolo, Englert, Bouck, Heutsche, & Wang, 2008). In another study with more than 300 ·students in two schoo.l ...
... Only a few researchers have investigated the effects of online instruction related to critical content areas in which the performance of students with disabilities was analyzed separately from students without disabilities. Okolo, Englert, Bouck, and Heutsche (2007) examined the effectiveness of a web-based virtual history museum to help middle school students acquire knowledge and reasoning skills related to historical information. They found that students with disabilities, students without disabilities, and honor students performed equally well on a history unit posttest. ...
... Given the increasing trend toward online instruction for school-aged students and the limited amount of research (Kaffar, 2006;Okolo et al., 2007) related to the academic effectiveness of this type of instruction for students with disabilities, there appears to be a tremendous need to extend this line of inquiry. This is especially true as it relates to evidence-based strategies designed to help students acquire critical academic skills such as reading, decoding, and comprehension. ...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of using online modules to teach The Word Identification Strategy (Lenz, Schumaker, Deshler, & Beals, 2007) to elementary and middle school students with learning disabilities in reading. The five participants in this multiple probe across participants study were enrolled in an online charter school and received their instruction via the school's Internet-based platform. Baseline, intervention, and maintenance data revealed that all five participants improved in the area of oral reading. Additional standardized and curriculum-based pre- and posttest measures revealed improvements related to oral reading, comprehension, and use of the strategy. Implications for teaching The Word Identification Strategy within an online context are discussed and recommendations for future research in this area are provided.
... Classroom discussion is a key feature of productive social studies instruction and offers multiple benefits for students with disabilities and their teachers (Ferretti et al., 2001;Okolo, Englert, Bouck, & Heutsche, 2007). It provides access to learning that is not bound to the relatively unresponsive formats of textbooks and lectures. ...
... In one study, students with mild disabilities made knowledge gains comparable to students without disabilities and to students in an honors class. Students with disabilities were more highly engaged during social studies instruction with VHM than without (Okolo, Englert, Bouck, & Heutsche, 2007;Okolo, Englert, Bouck, Heutsche, & Wang, 2008). In another study with more than 300 ·students in two schoo.l ...
Science and social studies have much to offer to all learners--including those with disabilities. However, instruction in these subjects has often been overlooked in the quest to better understand and improve leaning in English/language arts and mathematics. As we demonstrate in this paper, science and social studies help students attain skills, information, and dispositions that are important for success in school and everyday life. Furthermore, these subjects offer opportunities for students to learn and apply literacy and mathematics skills, engage in authentic problem solving and inquiry, and experience success in the general education classroom. We begin by discussing the nature of learning in science and social studies as well as the interaction of learners with the curriculum. We then review instructional practices for improving the performance of students with disabilities in each of these subject areas.
... Facilitating students' understanding of content-area texts is particularly challenging because multiple factors create barriers to comprehension. When comparing the content-area subjects, social studies is particularly textbook driven (Okolo, Englert, Bouck, & Heutsche, 2007) as teachers and students are presented with "inconsiderate" text (Armbruster & Anderson, 1984) as a primary source of information. ...
... Although single-strategy instruction promotes students' proficiency on specific skills (e.g., main idea, question generation), accruing evidence suggests that complex text comprehension requires strategy combinations (Baxter & Reddy, 2007;Scammacca et al., 2007). Compared to narrative text, however, few experimental studies have investigated multiple-strategy approaches to improving struggling readers' comprehension of social studies text in the middle and secondary grades (Edmonds et al., 2009;James-Burdumy et al., 2009;Okolo et al., 2007). Further, few contemporary multiple-strategy interventions in social studies have addressed both comprehension and vocabulary. ...
In this study, we compared the effects of two experimental multiple-strategy approaches (content-area comprehension and vocabulary) to typical fourth-grade social studies instructional practices. An 18-week, cluster-randomized study was conducted to estimate effects measured by normative-referenced reading comprehension and vocabulary measures and researcher- and district-developed measures of social studies vocabulary and content. Forty-eight teachers and their respective 903 students from 15 schools were randomly assigned by school to one of three conditions: content vocabulary, content reading comprehension, or typical practice. Experimental teachers participated in 6 professional development sessions over 21 weeks. Structural equation modeling results indicated reliable differences favoring both experimental conditions over typical practice on the social studies content measure and substantively important effects on content and standardized vocabulary measures. Students in the vocabulary intervention also outperformed typical practice peers on the curriculum-based vocabulary assessment. Effects of the comprehension and vocabulary conditions were comparable except for the significant effect of vocabulary on the curriculum-based vocabulary measure. Effect sizes for teaching quality on the standardized comprehension measure ranged from d = .26 to .32; however, these effects were not statistically significant.
... Ejemplo de estos escenarios digitales son los portales de Internet para la documentación, exhibición y sensibilización de eventos históricos, donde las personas pueden interactuar, consultar y aprender de su historia de forma didáctica (Marschall, 2013). Entre estas plataformas se encuentran: Europeana, la cual permite navegar contenido digital relacionado con historia y patrimonio cultural de Europa (Petras et al., 2017), el Museu Da Pessoa en Brasil, que ensambla una colección de historias de vida en formato de audio y video (Vicentini y Kahn, 2019), y la plataforma History Matters que permite navegar por contenidos pedagógico digitales relacionados con la historia de EE.UU (Okolo et al., 2007). Se evidencia que las TIC emergen como el medio de conservación tanto de la memoria histórica como la memoria colectiva, no solo como repositorios de información, sino como escenarios de interlocución, reinterpretación y experimentación de la realidad (Scolari, 2015). ...
The present study examines interactivity as a category, with technological and social dimensions, for peace education. It presents the design, development, and implementation of a virtual platform that incorporates oral, sound, and photographic narratives that were gathered from an armed conflict territory in Colombia. The platform integrates technological, informational, and pedagogical components through a virtual classroom. The interactive components of the platform were evaluated by university students who participated in virtual lectures and who explained the potential and challenges of information technologies (IT) in education. The results highlighted the role of interactivity as a pedagogical component of virtual platforms. They also show the need for further development of both pedagogical and interactive tools to support and advance peace education. It is concluded that the virtual platform (PazRed) presented here can be used to support peace education in Colombia through interactive digital environments.
... Experiencing art either through hands-on crafts or through museums can boost academic achievement (Catterall, 1998). Research into virtual museums' effect on learning in K-12 has been documented in various studies (see Bouck et al., 2009;Bouck et al., 2008;Cassady et al., 2008;Okolo et al., 2010;Okolo et al., 2007;Paquin & Barfurth, 2007;Prosser & Eddisford, 2004). For example, Guan et al. (2020) (2019) found that students who used virtual museums first and then the physical museum next tended to increase their knowledge acquisition. ...
This anecdotal pilot case study of practice addresses the question: How can technology be used to make online history courses more engaging with museums? Findings from this case study suggest that virtual art museums via the Google Cultural Institute (now Google Arts & Culture) were an effective way to encourage students to do more than the minimum required for the online forum response assignment in a survey (100-level) history course at a community college in the northwest United States. The instructor designed an assignment that was posted in the learning management system as a PDF. Implications for practice are that online instructors of history, as well as online instructors of humanities, can assign virtual art museum visits with an online discussion component to encourage student engagement centered on course content.
... Padahal seharusnya pembelajaran SKI, banyak mengajarkan nilai yang ditulis dengan persfektif yang berbeda sehingga dapat membuka peluang bagi adanya pemecahan suatu permasalahan dan interpretasi sekaligus. (Okolo, 2007) Dari paparan tersebut, peneliti memandang perlu kiranya pembelajaran SKI menggunakan model pembelajaran yang dapat mengubah pandangan siswa, sehingga siswa kemudian menjadi berminat dengan Pembelajaran SKI, selanjutnya siswa tidak lagi ragu-ragu terhadap fungsi dan manfaat pembelajaran SKI, dan siswa dapat menjadikan SKI sebagai mata pelajaran yang inspiratif, dan juga memandang bahwa pembelajaran SKI menjadi pembelajaran yang mempunyai arti solutif bagi kehidupan siswa pada masa yang akan datang nanti. Pengukuran peningkatan kesadaran beragama menggunakan angket dengan skala Likert yang sudah diadaptasi. ...
[THE USE OF EXPERIENCED-BASED LEARNING IN LEARNING ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION HISTORY TO IMPROVERELIGIOUS AWARENESS AND STUDENTS' CRITICAL THINKING AT MADRASAH ALIYAH NEGERI IN BEKASIREGENCY]. The purpose of this study was to identify: The use of Experience-Based Learning (EBL) in learningSKI so as to foster students' religious awareness and critical power of MAN students in Bekasi Regency; This study uses a quantitative approach methods. The method used is a quasy experiment. The results of this study includes: 1) The use of EBL in learning SKI to foster religious awareness of students of MAN Bekasi Regency, it is known from the difference in the average questionnaire before learning in the experimental and control group meeting 1 of 3.60, after learning it was obtained 6.85; meeting 2 showed a greater mean difference of 10,075; and meeting 3 of 4.85. This means that H1 = i1 ≠ i2 is accepted so that there is a significant difference between the experimental class and the control class in cultivating religious awareness; The use of EBL in learning SKI to grow students' critical power can be seen from the results of the average difference between the pre test experimental class with treatment and the control class meeting 1 of 4.75, after treatment shows a greater difference between the post test experimental class and the control class of 10,875. Meeting 2 shows the difference in the average post test experimental class with control of 10,125, and meeting 3 is 9.25. This means that H1 = i1 ≠ i2 so that there is an average difference between the experimental class and the control class in growing the critical power of MAN students in Bekasi Regency
... The VHM is a web-based learning environment designed to facilitate the learning of discipline-specific strategies along with built-in cognitive supports (Okolo, Englert, Bouck, Heutsche, & Courtad, 2007). The purpose is for participants to adopt the role of curators creating exhibits about historical figures, events, or topics in a metaphorical museum. ...
A systematic review of Historical Literacy (HL) interventions conducted during the past 17 years (2000–2017) with students with and at risk for LD is presented in this article. HL is defined as the skills required to reason, read, write, and learn with historical evidence from the past. The review begins with a description of reforms in history education and summarizes more recent changes in legislation. Next, HL standards that pose challenges for struggling learners are discussed, and findings from HL interventions are presented. Results are synthesized and reported according to three themes that align with the CCSS for literacy in history/social studies: (1) disciplinary reading, (2) historical writing, and (3) classroom research projects. Instructional suggestions and directions for future research are discussed.
... Michigan State University. In addition to virtual tours, the VHM provides a web-based learning environment designed to facilitate the learning of discipline-specific strategies (e.g., contextualization and sourcing) along with built-in cognitive supports that enable multiple-types of learners to participate in the experience (Okolo, Englert, Bouck, & Heutsche, 2010). The purpose of the VHM is for participants to adopt the role of curators in a metaphorical museum working to create exhibits, which consist of artifacts and activities curators compile to describe historical figures, events, or topics. ...
This chapter provides an overview of programs of intervention research that have provided frameworks for effective instruction in history. It reviews studies that have made a particular impact on academically diverse learners including students with disabilities, and ethnically diverse learners. To start, the chapter highlights select studies that focused on content enhancement strategies including graphic organizers, mnemonic tools, and text structure instruction. It then examines work in the area of historical discussion, peer tutoring, and extending opportunities for heterogeneous student-to-student and small group interaction. The chapter synthesizes several studies that employ twenty-first-century learning tools such as the Virtual History Museum, project-based learning, and innovative methods to engage a diverse population of learners. The chapter also reviews some select studies that explore teaching discipline-specific cognitive strategies through a cognitive apprenticeship model. Finally, it offers suggestions for how this work fits into the larger framework for historical learning and implications for the field.
... Theorizing an Integration of Reading and Mathematics: Solving Mathematical Word Problems in the Elementary Grades Background knowledge, including purposes, has an overriding influence upon the reader's development of meaning (Gersten, Fuchs, Williams, & Baker, 2001). Reading comprehension involves activating, focusing, maintaining, and refining of ideas toward developing interpretations that are plausible (Okolo, Englert, Bouck, & Heutsche, 2007). Thus successful comprehension is an interrelated activation of multiple mental processes (Pressley, 2002b) that originate with the connection of prior knowledge with the purpose of the reading act, which are then interconnected and result in comprehension. ...
The authors explore the assumption that intelligence is static through a case study of one student with special needs, demonstrating how a growth-oriented paradigm supports students. With a growth mindset, teachers can build the necessary confidence for students to risk learning through scaffolding the emotional, social, and cognitive components of learning.
... It is important to note that whereas Reiser ' s structuring is designed to simplify a task, problematizing is designed to make sure that learners engage in the necessary complexity within that simplifi ed task. A number of studies conducted in social studies classrooms have illustrated the utility and range of scaffolding that can be used to support students in classroom discussions and deliberations ( Beck, 2003 Beck, , 2005 Flynn, 2009 ; Hess, 2009 ) as they engage in inquiry projects or historical investigations ( Bain, 2005 ; Brush & Saye, 2001 Milson, 2002 ; Rouet, Britt, Mason, & Perfetti, 1996 ; Saye & Brush, 1999 ), develop an understanding of cultural universals ( Brophy & Alleman, 2000 Brophy et al., 2009 ); use GIS to develop cartographic understanding as well as cultural awareness and empathy ( Keiper, 1999 ; Milson & Earle, 2007 ), employ technological tools ( Okolo, Englert, Bouck, & Heutsche, 2007 ; ), or engage in economic reasoning and problem solving ( Miller & VanFossen, 1994 ). This body of work, across disciplines, clearly indicates that improving students ' learning requires the teacher to design instruction that models and offers explicit assistance in breaking down diffi cult and complex cognitive tasks (see Barton, 2008, p. 243 ). ...
If social studies educators are to begin to clearly articulate and appropriately plan for and assess learning, a necessary first step requires that they have access to and understandings of empirical research in the social studies. The purpose of this chapter, then, is to provide an overview of the landscape—a “map,” if you will—of empirical classroom-based social studies research that is shaped by essential principles of learning. It is important to remember that such an attempt to map this environment, although crude, can become a guide for ongoing explorations and discovery that, in turn, allow for more complete and layered representations and understandings. In this chapter, we begin by briefly describing the field of social studies in terms of its nature and ultimately its purpose as a school subject. Then we identify and define eight principles of learning and review classroom-based social studies research that, in some manner, address these eight principles. Finally, we offer a general discussion of the principles and practice of social studies teaching and learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
... Urban, suburban, and rural schools share these educational challenges and are looking for low cost, high quality instructional options—hence the explosive growth of virtual classrooms (iNACOL, 2012). Given the increasing trend toward online instruction for school-aged students and the limited amount of research (Kaffar, 2006; Okolo et al., 2007) related to the academic effectiveness of this type of instruction for students with disabilities, there appears to be a tremendous need to extend this line of inquiry. This is especially true as it relates to evidence-based strategies designed to help students acquire critical academic skills in reading, including decoding and comprehension. ...
This review of literature highlights the empirical work to date in the area of K-12 distance education and online learning. While research indicates that distance and online learning can be equally effective as compared to more traditional learning environments for many students, there is little empirical evidence to suggest that previously validated face-to-face best practices can be effective in the online environment or if students with disabilities have similarly parallel experiences. Technology/media—the debate as to whether it is a part of instructional design or an inert component of the learning environment seems to be ending as the sophistication of technology changes the very nature of instruction and demonstrates the need for empirically validating practices in this new environment. The potential impact on rural schools and districts is of particular import in light of their often-critical need for access to qualified teachers and advanced coursework for their students. We conclude with considerations for research including lingering questions as well as a call for action on the part of educational researchers.
... Second, 20 percent of high school students with LD perform at least five grades below their nondisabled peers in reading (National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities, 2008). Third, content classes such as social studies pose challenges due to difficulty with comparing and contrasting textual information, connecting new content to prior knowledge, differentiating between main idea and extraneous detail (Bulgren, Deshler, & Lenz, 2007 ), and complexities associated with informational textbooks (Okolo, Englert, Bouck, & Heutsche, 2007 ). The previously described learning difficulties for students with LD provide evidence that effective strategies and interventions are needed to improve learning outcomes for this population. ...
This article presents a systematic review of the literature for studies that utilized computer-based graphic organizers for students with learning disabilities. A comprehensive search yielded 12 studies that were coded and analyzed. The authors investigated the effectiveness of the treatments on academic outcomes, and selected integral instructional and methodological features for evaluation in order to delineate practical implications and prioritize future research. Findings revealed high effect sizes on social studies measures and encouraging results for written expression, while comprehension results were less promising. This review found no evidence suggesting that these treatments were efficacious without the use of explicit instruction and guided practice.
... Second, 20 percent of high school students with LD perform at least five grades below their nondisabled peers in reading (National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities, 2008). Third, content classes such as social studies pose challenges due to difficulty with comparing and contrasting textual information, connecting new content to prior knowledge, differentiating between main idea and extraneous detail (Bulgren, Deshler, & Lenz, 2007), and complexities associated with informational textbooks (Okolo, Englert, Bouck, & Heutsche, 2007). The previously described learning difficulties for students with LD provide evidence that effective strategies and interventions are needed to improve learning outcomes for this population. ...
This article presents a systematic review of the literature for studies that utilized computer based
graphic organizers for students with learning disabilities. A comprehensive search yielded 12 studies that were coded and analyzed. The authors investigated the effectiveness of the treatments on academic outcomes, and selected integral instructional and methodological features for evaluation in order to delineate practical implications and prioritize future research. Findings revealed high effect sizes on social studies measures and encouraging results for written expression, while comprehension results were less promising. This review found no evidence suggesting that these treatments were efficacious without the use of explicit instruction
and guided practice.
... The Internet is an effective medium for history instruction for all learners [10]. For instance, teachers can use digital assets and web resources for school audiences [2]. ...
Nowadays, some virtual museums include 3D room scenes to show the models of its pieces, just like in real museums. Nevertheless, the generation and maintenance of this kind of scenes is generally difficult and should be done by an expert. For example, any change such as including a new piece or modifying the position of an existing fragment usually requires a different design and the creation of a new scene. In this paper we present a case study on the development of a web-based application to automatize this process. To this end, a database to store both graphic and non-graphic information about the pieces, and some 3D rooms to show them has been created. The designed scenes only contain some pieces of furniture to exhibit the fragments, which will be subsequently included. Thus, when a room is loaded in the web page, its associated pieces are obtained through a query in the database and its models are dynamically included in the original scene. Therefore, the position changes or the inclusion of new pieces are not performed in the 3D model, but in the database. Our application makes the transmission of the knowledge to the general public easier because any new discovered piece can be included in a existing museum effortlessly.
... They also expressed virtual museums are prominence conceptions in edutainment. Okolo, Englert, Bouck, and Heutsche (2007) expressed virtual museums beneficial in history learning. Teacher and students can direct access to art works, historical objects, photos, texts, videos. ...
There are lessons including the use of basic information technologies in the Teacher Education Programmes as well as how these technologies can be used in educational activities and Internet supported Distance Education practices. Painting Teaching Programme candidates must acquire competencies regarding both personal and occupational development. This research performed for evaluating the contribution of virtual museums in personal and occupational development by the views of Painting Teaching Programme candidates.Research is an action research and data analyzed according to qualitative data analysis. Data gathered from Pamukkale University Painting Teaching Programme second graduate candidates in 2007-2008 academic years. Views were towards personal and occupational development, virtual artworks and general to virtual museums.Teacher candidates expressed that virtual museums may contribute to occupational and personal development. They also stated that they must see and look in artworks in the way of producing original artworks and developing self style as many as they can. According to candidates virtual artworks can not create the same impressions as real artworks and virtual museums can be a useful information resource.This research can provide information to educators lecturing computer or basic information technologies and also to the practitioners and researchers in the virtual museum design processes.
... Copyright issues should also be considered and university policies followed when instructors, staff, or schools publish learners' work on public web spaces. 20 A final and very important challenge is plagiarism, which has recently become a considerable problem for educators in higher education, particularly in the online environment, where cutting and pasting of material from other sources is fast and convenient. 21 Practices to control for learner plagiarism should be incorporated. ...
Preparing health educators in today's technology-driven society requires faculty to adopt new teaching strategies which motivate and engage the "Web 2.0 generation." Blogs are popular online forums for both scholarly and non-scholarly communication. Currently, there are no published studies assessing the utility of blogs in health education. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore faculty and students' perceptions of blogging as an effective teaching and learning tool within an online health education course. Students enrolled in both sections of an undergraduate online women's health class (n=52) were asked to complete an online survey regarding their perceptions of blogging as a teaching and learning tool. Overall, both instructors and students were satisfied with blogging and found it to be an effective teaching and learning strategy. Results of this pilot study showed that blogging can enhance peer interaction, allow for synthesis of course content, and help sustain student engagement in the online health education classroom. In the near future, blogs may serve as important channels for health education and advocacy beyond the virtual classroom. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)
... The content of social studies provides engaging and compelling ideas and issues that are ideal for knowledge acquisition and for improving reading comprehension (Gersten & Okolo, 2007;Okolo, Englert, Bouck, & Heutsche, 2007). Application of the CCSS requires secondary social studies teachers to continue in their familiar role of improving the social studies content knowledge of their students and to assume a less familiar role of enhancing their reading for understanding within the content area. ...
This study aimed to determine the efficacy of a content acquisition and reading comprehension treatment implemented by eighth-grade social studies teachers. Using a within-teacher design, the eighth-grade teachers' social studies classes were randomly assigned to treatment or comparison conditions. Teachers (n = 5) taught the same instructional content to both treatment and comparison classes, but the treatment classes used instructional practices focused on teaching essential words, text as a source for reading and discussion, and team-based learning approaches. Students in the treatment conditions (n = 261) scored statistically higher than students in the comparison conditions (n = 158) on all three outcomes: content acquisition (ES = 0.17), content reading comprehension (ES = 0.29), and standardized reading comprehension (ES = 0.20). Findings are interpreted as demonstrating support for the treatment in improving both knowledge acquisition and reading comprehension within content area instruction.
... Students are provided opportunities to view historical events from multiple perspectives, to empathize with others, articulate and defend points of view, and realize how historical events affect the world today (Gersten & Okolo, 2007; Okolo, Englert, Bouck, & Heutsche, 2007). The acquisition of social studies concepts often occurs through reading informational text sources (Bulgren et al., 2007). ...
A synthesis and meta-analysis of the extant research on the effects of reading interventions delivered using social studies content for students with learning disabilities in kindergarten through Grade 12 is provided. A total of 27 studies met criteria for the synthesis, with 16 studies providing sufficient data for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Reading interventions implemented within the context of social studies have employed the use of graphic organizers, mnemonics, reading and answering questions, guided notes, and multicomponent comprehension instruction. The overall mean effect size for interventions included in the meta-analysis was 1.02, indicating that reading interventions delivered using social studies content have a substantial positive effect on outcomes among students with learning disabilities.
In the most recent reauthorization of the seminal U.S. special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), reaffirmed that students with disabilities should be taught in their least restrictive environment. This environment has progressively been seen as the general education classroom. The push for inclusion has resulted in a heightened sense of collaboration and co-teaching practices between general and special educators. Within general education settings, inclusion asks that special educators assume a more active, unified and participatory role in the design and delivery of content-based instruction. This study surveyed 179 preservice special education teachers through questionnaires regarding their practices and perceptions of teaching social studies in inclusive settings. The results indicate that preservice students lacked a cogent definition of social studies as well as exposure to effective instructional practices. Both deficits contributed to a general lack of confidence in their ability to teach social studies in general education settings. It was therefore recommended that preservice special educators take a social studies methods course which supports field-based exposure to co-planning and co-teaching collaborative opportunities.
In this qualitative study I researched how five fifth-grade teachers’ beliefs in student capabilities influenced their curricular decision-making in daily activities with the History Alive! textbook. Students in the classrooms had reading levels 4–5 grades above and below grade level and included students with mild high-incidence disabilities. For four teachers, their strong beliefs determined what they did on a daily basis and matched the stated goals of the History Alive! textbook. For one teacher, the relationship was less clear. Three areas of beliefs emerged from observations and interviews, including: 1) beliefs about students’ capabilities in reading, 2) beliefs about students’ individual differences in learning, and 3) beliefs about students’ responsibility. Findings include when teachers believed and could articulate strong beliefs about the capability of students to read, write, and participate in collaborative activities, they designed classroom activities and assessments so that all students could learn from and participate in social studies activities. When teachers’ beliefs about student capabilities aligned with Teachers’ Curriculum Institute׳s principles for inclusive classrooms, classroom practices reflected those beliefs and textbooks supported their practices.
The chapter Technological Advances in Special Education provides information on advances of technology and how such technological advances have influenced students with disabilities and special education across the globe. The chapter presents technological advances that benefited students with disabilities in developed countries as well as potential technologies to support students with disabilities in developing countries. The scant exiting literature on developing countries suggests some universal themes regarding technology for students with disabilities including access and training. Additional attention and research is needed on assistive technology to support students with disabilities in both developed and developing countries, with recognition that what works is developed counties may not work in developing.
Technology, particularly for students with disabilities, is often viewed as “the great equalizer” (Wyer, 2001, p. 1). It is perceived as a means of providing access and opportunity, promoting independence, and encouraging empowerment (Edyburn, Higgins, & Boone, 2005b). Technology can greatly benefit students with disabilities and solve many of the challenges these students face. Perhaps, this was put most profusely by former Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs Judy Heumann, “For most of us, technology makes things easier. For a person with a disability, it makes things possible” (Edyburn et al., 2005b, p. xiii). The potential of technology is enormous for students with disabilities. For example, technology can provide a voice to those students who may not otherwise have one per their disability (i.e., AAC devices), read a text to a student who struggles with reading as a result of his/her disability (i.e., text-to-speech devices, screen readers, and Reading Pens), grant access to a computer and other electronic tools (i.e., switches and speech recognition), and offer low-tech devices such as pencil grips or lined paper to aid students in writing.
The purpose of the authors in this review is to examine how teacher-related, context-related, and project-related conditions interact in successful cases of technology integration projects in social studies classrooms. A close examination of different dimensions of these conditions in the implementation of 33 successful cases of technology-assisted projects showed the importance of strong pedagogy-technology alignment. This is in line with the emphasis given to the centrality of technological pedagogical content knowledge by the practitioner in the technological pedagogical content knowledge framework. Other conditions found to be important for the success of the projects were focus and clarity of targeted learning outcomes and the supportive role of teacher educators when collaborating with teachers in designing and implementing the projects. The implication of these findings for school research and practice and teacher education is discussed.
Onli ne or virtual exhibitions are no more new tools to libraries, museums, art galleries and particularly to education institutions. The National Library of Medicine, United States, Holocaust Memorial Museum, Smithsonian Information, many counties national archives, etc. started exhibiting their information resources through these tools. These education resources provide instructional templates that present and use exhibition materials to engage students' interest in historical and scientific perspectives. Educators are welcome to review and use the module or lesson plans in whole or in part, as appropriate for their students' interests, levels, and academic goals. This paper studied how virtual or online exhibitions could be used for instructional purpose to the graduate students of painting programme at university level. This study found useful for using of virtual museums for teacher education. The teachers had positive approaches in terms of acquiring culture and constructing knowledge regarding painting, art, recognising painters and paintings, producing original art works, interacting between individual, society and artist, providing information sources to their students in teacher proficiency and career.
A multiple probe across participants design was used to examine the effects of systematic instruction (constant time delay and a system of least prompts) on both generating and answering questions about science e-texts for students with moderate intellectual disability. Three elementary aged students with moderate intellectual disability participated in this study. Two special education teachers served as the primary interventionists. The students were pretrained using constant time delay and visual and auditory cues delivered on an iPad2TM to access and navigate e-texts on the Internet. The primary dependent variable was the number of comprehension questions correctly answered after students generated a question and listened to a science e-text. Additional questions examined (a) the students’ ability to generate questions both with and without the support of an iPad2TM template, (b) the generalizability of generating questions and answering questions about science e-texts in a general education science setting, and (c) stakeholder perceptions. A functional relationship was demonstrated for both generating questions using an iPad2TM and answering comprehension questions. All three students demonstrated an ability to correctly answer questions by either saying an answer from memory or independently searching the e-text and replaying target text to find the correct answer. A functional relationship also was demonstrated between constant time delay instruction and the points earned accurately generating questions using an iPad2TM.
In Singapore Primary Schools, Singapore History is integrated with Geography, Economics and Sociological principles, and offered as a Social Science subject. Singapore History Alive with 3D! is a comprehensive multimedia teaching and learning package developed by IM Innovations in 2011 to enhance the teaching and learning of Singapore History for Primary Four students. Upon entering the immersive virtual world, students interact with key historical figures and learn through presentation slides, animation videos, mini-games and quizzes. The package can be used for classroom instruction as well as independent learning. This qualitative exploratory study attempted to examine its use as an independent, self-exploratory, post-teaching activity. The research questions were as follows: 1. How did the participants react to the Singapore History Alive with 3D! package? a) Which sections of the virtual materials did they find interesting or engaging? b) What aspects made learning interesting or engaging? 2. What did they learn from the package? Students in two Primary Four classes in Marsiling Primary School, Singapore were allowed to explore the package on 2 and 7 May 2013 for 40 and 30 minutes respectively. Data was collected through classroom observations as well as interviews with teachers and selected participants. The data suggests that the participants enjoyed learning Singapore History from a virtual world and its immersive experience shaped what they learnt.
While traumatic brain injury (TBI) became a special education category within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990, societies have dealt with TBI far back in history. According to Granacher (2007), there have been writings about the examination of skulls from battlefields in which a hole was drilled into the skull using a trepanning tool apparently to provide some physical relief for the injured soldier. Interestingly, Levin, Benton, and Grossman (1982) stated that this tool continued to be part of Medieval and Renaissance surgeons' practice. At that time, the surgeons believed that trepanation was a vital procedure to improve the brain pulsations and hence the overall well-being of the person with a TBI; however, the medical effectiveness of this procedure did not materialize and it was replaced by brain surgery in the 20th century (Levin et al., 1982).
In this study we examined the effects of dimensions of teacher quality on students' comprehension and vocabulary performance. Participants were 36 teachers and their respective 679 students in 2 medium-size school districts in central Texas, both of which served high proportions of children from low–socioeconomic status households. We matched schools in Districts 1 and 2 on the previous year's reading achievement performance and then assigned them to 1 of 2 experimental conditions—comprehension or content vocabulary—through stratified random assignment, with each condition represented in multiple schools in each district. Teachers in each condition participated in a distributed 15 hr of content- and curriculum-based professional development over an 18-week period. The intervention was for 30 min, 3 times a week. We examined the following dimensions of teacher quality: teacher qualifications, instructional practices, quality of strategy use, treatment fidelity, and instructional effectiveness. We used student measures of reading comprehension, content vocabulary, and social studies knowledge to explore the effects of teacher quality. Teachers' education, fidelity, and indicators of teacher quality were significantly related to student outcomes on a standardized measure of reading comprehension.
The role and function of museums in education has been debated along several lines of inquiry. For the majority of museum institutions, the most vital, consistent audience they have comes from the public and private schools in their communities. This is critical for museums trying to maintain relevancy in the national education climate that has increased emphasis on curriculum and testing standards. Founded in 1990, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in Kansas City, Missouri has preserved and taught African American baseball history from the late 1800s through the 1960s. Although the museum had received positive commentary from visitors, and well received attention from the international press, it had not undergone any major changes to its design since it opened its permanent facility in 1997. Of chief concern to the museum was its ability to attract school age learners with their teachers to the institution. The museum had a number of layers by which it presented historical information and each layer needed some level of evaluation. There were a number of informative examples of museum evaluation and assessment available for review, but no tool or model existed specifically designed to assist museums in evaluating exhibition content for educational value. This study reports on methods by which the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) could improve and enhance exhibitions. It explored the current trends and scholarship involving museums and education, museum exhibition evaluation, and Negro Leagues historical scholarship. A multi-step research processed evolved for use in the study, featuring detailed literature reviews and interviews from educators, historians, museum professionals, and a grant awarding foundation expert. This study targets museum professionals responsible for interpretation and creation of exhibitions, including curatorial staff and museum educators. The study also informs other museum leaders regarding the process by which high quality educational material is created for the museum environment. A set of important themes and evaluation questions were formed as a result of the interviews and literature review. The study offered critical thinking questions for the evaluation process and suggests recommendations for implementation. The study also implies action plan strategies for implementation of an evaluation process. Doctor of Education Doctoral Department of Educational Leadership Gerald D. Bailey
Seventy 8th-grade students (including talented writers, those with average ability, and students in need of special education services) participated in an integrated social studies and language arts unit designed to promote historical understandings and argumentative writing skills. The historical reasoning instruction lasted 12 days, and the writing instruction lasted 10 days. Students applied historical inquiry strategies when reading documents related to westward expansion and learned to plan argumentative essays related to each historical event. Results indicate that in comparison to 62 students in a control group who did not receive either form of instruction, students who demonstrated mastery of the target strategies during instruction wrote historically more accurate and more persuasive essays regardless of their initial learning profile. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Fifth-grade students with and without mild disabilities participated in an eight-week project-based, technology-supported investigation about the 19th century westward expansion in the United States. A narrative framework was used to organize and support students' understanding of the experiences of three emigrant groups. During their investigations, students analyzed primary and secondary sources to understand the experiences of these emigrants. The analysis of these sources was preceded by teacher-led discussions about the possibility of bias in evidence that affects the trustworthiness of historical documentation. Students designed a multimedia presentation about the experiences of one emigrant group and presented their work to their peers and parents. Quantitative analyses showed that these investigations were associated with gains in students' knowledge about the period of westward expansion, a better understanding of historical content and historical inquiry, and improvements in their self-efficacy as learners. The gains in knowledge and understanding of historical content for students with learning disabilities (LD) were not generally as large as those for their nondisabled peers, but both groups showed comparable gains in their self-efficacy as learners and their understanding of historical inquiry. Qualitative observations documented some of the challenges faced by teachers and students in meeting the demands of rigorous curriculum in addition to some of the opportunities afforded for all students by this project-based investigation. The implications of our findings for improving the historical understanding of students with LD are discussed.
Recent science reform documents call for students to develop robust understandings of scientific concepts and reasoning through inquiry-based instruction. The challenge of this goal is increased in heterogeneous inclusive classroom settings with students identified as having learning disabilities and emotional impairments. This article describes a design experiment conducted over two school years in which we investigated the experiences and outcomes for special needs students in guided inquiry science instruction in upper-elementary grade classrooms (n = 4). Phase 1 (′97-′98) of the design experiment utilized qualitative and quantitative data to construct case studies of individual learners with special needs. Patterns across the cases informed the identification of advanced instructional strategies hypothesized to support special needs students relative to language/cognition, print literacy, attention, and social relations challenges. In Phase 2 (′98-′99), we studied learning outcomes from instruction including the advanced strategies (same teachers, topics as Phase 1). Our findings indicate that in Phase 2 (with the advanced strategies) all students demonstrated significant learning gains over Phase 1 and that special needs and low-achieving students in three of four classes showed changes in understanding comparable to those of normally achieving students. We conclude by identifying implications of these findings for the roles of general and special educators.
This article explores factors influencing the sustained use of Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) in math in one elementary school. General education teachers participating in research studies implemented PALS twice a week to the full class, including students both with and without disabilities. The authors examined whether teachers maintained their use of PALS after the research studies ended. They also studied how PALS was used in each classroom and assessed teachers' perceptions of its utility, their understanding of its underlying principles, and their reasons for continuing use. The continued use and fidelity of implementation remained extremely high several years after the original research projects ended. Factors influencing continued use include the high quality of professional development and support provided during the research project, the solid alignment of PALS with district and state mandates, the autonomy in teaching math that PALS allowed teachers on the days they were not using PALS, and the fact that the computer-based system for monitoring student progress allowed teachers to easily see improvement in their students' math proficiency.
The purpose of this research was to provide more definitive answers about best instructional delivery arrangements for accelerating the reading growth of struggling readers. 2 instructional methods-peer-assisted instruction using carefully prescribed materials and routines and small-group teacher-directed instruction-were compared both to typical undifferentiated instruction and to each other. 22 general education first-grade teachers of 89 economically and ethnically diverse students who were low performers in reading participated in this research. 7 teachers conducted first-grade PALS, 7 teachers conducted teacher-directed small-group lessons, and 8 teachers served as the contrast group. To ensure that effects of the instructional delivery arrangement were truly being examined, both small-group teachers and peers taught from parallel materials and followed parallel routines that had been validated previously. Multiple measures of reading were collected, including pre- and postmeasures of timed and untimed word identification and phonetic decoding, and comprehension. Likewise, measures of phonemic segmentation and oral reading fluency were collected every 2 weeks. Results suggested that both peer-assisted instruction and small-group teacher-directed instruction, on average, enhanced reading performance of struggling readers more than typical, undifferentiated instruction both in terms of statistical significance and in terms of educational relevance. Results also implied that receiving instruction from a teacher in a small group was somewhat more powerful than similar instruction delivered by a classroom peer.
Writing is a complex task. Its development depends in large part on changes that occur in children’s strategic behavior, knowledge, and motivation. In the present study, the effectiveness of an instructional model, Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD), designed to foster development in each of these areas, was examined. Adding a peer support component to SRSD instruction to facilitate maintenance and generalization was also examined. Struggling, third grade writers, the majority of whom were minority students attending schools that served primarily low-income families, received SRSD instruction focused primarily on learning writing strategies and knowledge for planning and composing stories and persuasive essays. These students wrote longer, more complete, and qualitatively better papers for both of these genres than peers in the comparison condition (Writers’ Workshop). These effects were maintained over time for story writing and generalized to a third uninstructed genre, informative writing. SRSD instruction boosted students’ knowledge about writing as well. The peer support component augmented SRSD instruction by increasing students’ knowledge of planning and enhancing generalization to informative and narrative writing. In contrast, self-efficacy for writing was not influenced by either SRSD condition (with or without peer support).
Proponents of educational reform highlight the importance of creating instructional environments that encourage students' active involvement in the learning process. To be so involved, students with and without disabilities must construct knowledge, evaluate the products of their work, and engage in the design of solutions to authentic problems. We believe that these goals are especially important for students with disabilities, many of whom are passive learners who experience difficulty with the flexible use of knowledge and skills. Our analysis of the research evidence leads us to conclude that students' thinking skills and attitudes are enhanced when they collaborate in the solution of authentic problems. We view the social skills curriculum as a rich source of authentic problems that affords opportunities to promote thinking by enabling argument about controversial issues. Further, we contend that educational multimedia are potentially powerful tools for constructing knowledge, especially when used in collaborative project-based instructional environments, or multimedia design projects. We review evidence about the efficacy of multimedia design projects in promoting students' construction of knowledge, thinking, and problem solving, and discuss some potential challenges to the efficacy of this approach.
This article provides a review and analysis of research targeting the rift separating history written for adults and the historical texts aimed at K-12 audiences - specifically history textbooks. The role of personal agency in historical writing, both for those who write and those who read, is emphasized as an important element separating the two rhetorical genres. A body of research exploring what students learn from reading and the complex process of reasoning that goes along with interpreting their history textbooks is reviewed. In particular, it focuses on how students learn from texts and on recent trends in the study of teaching and learning history that underscore the role of authorship in historical texts. The author discusses the relative silence of authorial voices within the discourse of history textbooks, arguing that this anonymous, authoritative style of writing may be an important contributing factor to the impoverished conception of history noted in the literature of school history reform.
This article reports on one facet of a researcher–practitioner project undertaken with class of 23 diverse fifth graders. The project was rooted in taking recent history education reforms seriously. It was premised principally on reforms dealing with teaching practices found in the history standards and the research literature. As the researcher–practitioner, the author engaged the students in historical investigations to help them learn to think historically and better understand the past. He operated from a theoretical framework based on how he believed historical thinking and understanding occur for such novice learners. During the first three lessons, on Jamestown’s “Starving Time,” the author and class encountered history’s interpretive paradox. The article begins with an analogy drawn from the discipline of history. It then describes classroom events. The analysis focuses on a teaching dilemma that the encounter with the paradox provoked and conveys how the author’s pedagogical thinking and decision making were influenced by that encounter. The discussion of the dilemma suggests how research and reform in history education and the theories that underpin them mingle, in promising but unpredictable ways.
Mathematical problem solving is a transfer challenge requiring children to develop schemas for recognizing novel problems as belonging to familiar problem types for which they know solutions. Schema-based transfer instruction (SBTI) explicitly teaches transfer features that change problems in superficial ways to make them appear novel even though they still require known solution strategies. This study assessed the effects of an expanded version of SBTI incorporating more challenging transfer features for broadening schemas and helping children recognize real-life math problems as solvable. Teachers were assigned randomly to 16-week control, SBTI, or expanded SBTI conditions. Students completed pretests and posttests focusing on increasing transfer distances. On a measure approximating real-life problem solving, the expanded SBTI group outperformed the SBTI group, which in turn outperformed the control group.
Twenty-two classroom teachers (grades 1 through 7) were interviewed to obtain information about how they use their social studies textbooks, the problems they experience, and their perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of the texts. Teachers were also asked to describe the modifications or adaptations they made to help students who might have difficulty understanding the textbook. Results indicated that although teachers liked having the textbook as a resource, they were concerned about content and comprehensibility. Teachers tended to solve the problem of textbook difficulty in three ways: Helping students to cope with the textbook, deemphasizing the textbook, or reinforcing and extending textbook information.
This article provides a review and analysis of research targeting the rift separating history written for adults and the historical texts aimed at K-12 audiences––specifically history textbooks. The role of personal agency in historical writing, both for those who write and those who read, is emphasized as an important element separating the two rhetorical genres. A body of research exploring what students learn from reading and the complex process of reasoning that goes along with interpreting their history textbooks is reviewed. In particular, it focuses on how students learn from texts and on recent trends in the study of teaching and learning history that underscore the role of authorship in historical texts. The author discusses the relative silence of authorial voices within the discourse of history textbooks, arguing that this anonymous, authoritative style of writing may be an important contributing factor to the impoverished conception of history noted in the literature of school history reform.
This article focuses on understanding the teaching and learning of Division from a constructivist perspective. An overview of constructivism is provided first to set the stage for understanding the rationale underlying the move toward the use of a constructivist approach for teaching mathematics. In this special issue, the emphasis is on teaching and learning Division, but the principles discussed can be applied generally across topics within the domain of mathematics. Conceptual and procedural understanding of Division is discussed in the context of both computation and word problem solving. Suggestions are given for teaching students with learning disabilities, using a constructivist framework.
Literacy curriculum reforms in the middle grades require students to interpret challenging literature and write well-formed texts. Teachers are accountable for designing instruction that builds these high-level literacy skills with increasingly diverse groups of students. In this article we describe findings from studying a literacy approach aimed at supporting'teachers and students in meeting these demands. Based on a sociocognitive perspective, the Supported Literacy approach engages students in collaborative interpretation through a seamless integration of reading, discussing, and writing about compelling literature. Through classroom observation and outcomes assessment, we have identified features of learning opportunities that enable students with disabilities to perform similarly to their peers. We describe these instructional features and illustrate how they work together to support all students in achieving rigorous outcomes.
This article, one of 7 review/synthesis papers prepared to help frame the research program of the Center for the Learning and Teaching of Elementary Subjects, describes historical developments and current issues in curriculum, instruction, and evaluation in elementary social studies, with emphasis on teaching for understanding and higher-order applications of the content. I conclude that the higher-order goals of instruction in social studies are comparable to those of instruction in other subjects, at least if they are described in a few general terms (such as conceptual understanding, critical thinking, decision making, metacognition, and giving students control of accessible and usable knowledge) rather than subdivided into long lists of discrete skills. I also conclude that values, dispositions, and appreciation and self-actualization goals need to be considered along with more conventionally described knowledge and skills goals. Pending completion of needed research on almost all of the issues raised...
This article reports the findings of several extended classroom investigations in science education that include students with disabilities. In all cases, certified teachers implemented the science instruction over extended time periods to their students with and without disabilities. Additionally, in all cases science curricula were adapted as necessary to promote the successful participation and learning of students with disabilities. In some applications, teachers generated the adaptations in consultation with university researchers. In other cases, teachers generated ideas more independently. In all implementations, activities-based curriculum materials were used solely or in combination or comparison with textbook-based curriculum materials. Findings across all classroom implementations suggest that students with disabilities successfully learned more when taught with the adapted activities-based science curriculum materials. Additionally, students with disabilities overwhelmingly reported enjoying the activities-oriented instruction more than textbook instruction. Teachers noted that during activities-oriented instruction students appeared more motivated to learn and to participate in class, and demonstrated more on-task behaviors. However, teachers also reported that activities-oriented instruction involved considerably more teacher preparation time, behavior management skills, and organizational skills than traditional textbook instruction. Findings are discussed with respect to instructional implications for students with disabilities.
The purpose of this article was to examine the sustained effort to reform K through 12 mathematics instruction in this country over the last 10 years and the implications of this reform for students with learning disabilities. We begin by describing three forces that have driven mathematics reform: shifting theoretical paradigms, disappointing levels of mathematics performance of students in the United States, and the impact of rapidly changing technologies. We then discuss concerns about this reform from the special education community. In the second half of the article, we provide synthesized special education research relevant to mathematics reform, along with thoughts about future directions in mathematics education for students with learning disabilities.
The purpose of this study was to examine how a Web-based software program impacted lower elementary students' composition of personal narratives when using a supported paragraph activity. The subjects in this experiment were first and second grade students in a multi-age classroom in a low socio-economic urban community. The participants were asked to write a story in a Web-based environment on a supported paragraph activity. They were later asked to type a story in the Web-based environment on a free-writing activity. Finally, students were asked to compose a story through the traditional paper and pencil means. Students' personal narratives were scored using rubrics that examined both narrative genre characteristics and writing conventions. Overall findings indicate that students wrote more, incorporated more genre specific characteristics, and demonstrated conventional writing skills on the supported writing assignment. (Contains 10 figures and 2 tables.)
All citizens are expected to participate in the processes of democratic decision making in the postschool years, and the goals of social studies education have long included the preparation of an informed citizenry. However, surveys show that social studies instruction is often not provided for students with disabilities, and those that receive instruction do poorly compared to their nondisabled peers. Students' poor performance is exacerbated by the reliance on “inconsiderate” textbooks that are often poorly organized, lacking in content, and devoid of important background information. Project-based instruction is an alternative to the exclusive reliance on textbook-based instruction in the social studies. Students investigate a problem or question and develop artifacts based on these investigations.
In this study, students with learning disabilities, working under two different conditions, developed projects about factors that precipitated the American Revolutionary War. Students in both conditions worked cooperatively to learn about some aspect of the Revolutionary War, and they then contributed to the construction and presentation of a group report about the topic. However, students in one group had access to word processing tools, and the other had access to word processing and multimedia presentation tools in developing their projects. Analyses of students' knowledge revealed a substantial improvement in both conditions after the completion of the projects.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 30-32) Supported in part by the National Institute of Education under contract no. US-NIE-C-400-76-0116
Science education professionals generally agree that hands-on, inquiry-based science potentially benefits all students, yet there are few specific guidelines for helping students with learning disabilities (LD) achieve success in general education science classrooms. This study compared the effects of two approaches to hands-on science--supported inquiry science (SIS) and activity-based science--in six urban and two suburban fourth-grade general education classrooms. Participants included 172 students, 33 of whom had learning disabilities. The study found that students with and without LD demonstrated greater concept learning in the SIS classrooms, which focused on eliciting and reworking students' misconceptions and co-constructing knowledge under the guidance of a teacher-coach.
Knowing, teach-ing, and learning history
- P N Stearns
- P Seixas
- S Wineburg
Stearns, P. N., Seixas, P., & Wineburg, S. (2000). (Eds.). Knowing, teach-ing, and learning history. New York: New York University Press.
Decisions, decisions (Version 5.0) [Computer software]
- D Dockterman
Dockterman, D. (n.d.). Decisions, decisions (Version 5.0) [Computer software]. Watertown, MA: Tom Snyder Productions.
Substantive and methodological considerations for productive textbook analysis
- I L Beck
- M G Mckeown