Online ISSN: 2325-7466
2006
Triannual
National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET)
United States

Articles

Improving Science Scores of Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities through Engineering Problem Solving Activities

  • A. Leyf Peirce Starling, MAT (Author) University of North Carolina at Charlotte image/svg+xml
    A. Leyf Peirce Starling, MAT: Mrs. Starling earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia and her MAT in Special Education, General Curriculum, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has 11 years of teaching experience (math and science) in both public and private middle school and high school classrooms. Leyf's focus has been on specifically meeting the educational needs of students with learning disabilities and ADHD. Her interests lie in teaching science and math content through real-life engineering applications in hopes that all of her students experience success in these areas.
  • Ya-Yu Lo, Ph.D. (Author) University of North Carolina at Charlotte
    Ya-Yu Lo, Ph.D.: Dr. Ya-yu Lo is an Associate Professor in Special Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her areas of interest and research are in positive behavior interventions, social skill instruction, effective academic instruction, and applied behavior analysis.
  • Christopher J. Rivera, Ph.D. (Author) East Carolina University image/svg+xml
    Christopher J. Rivera, Ph.D.: Dr. Christopher J. Rivera is an Assistant Professor in Special Education at East Carolina University. His areas of interest and research are in teaching academic and functional skills to students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities using direct and systematic instruction.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.266
Abstract
This study evaluated the differential effects of three different science teaching methods, namely engineering teaching kit (ETK), explicit instruction (EI), and a combination of the two methods (ETK+EI), in two sixth-grade science classrooms. Twelve students with learning disabilities (LD) and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) participated in this study. The dependent variables included students’ performance on daily quizzes covering the material taught in that day’s lesson and students’ performance on a pretest and two posttests covering the steps of the engineering problem solving process. Using a multiple probe across science units design, we demonstrated that both the ETK and EI interventions alone increased the participants’ quiz scores, with the combined method (ETK+EI) producing slightly better results in most participants. Students’ understanding of the engineering problem solving process also improved after being exposed to the ETK method. Limitations, suggestions for future research, and practical applications are discussed.
Keywords
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Engineering Education, Grade 6, Interrater Reliability, Intervention, Learning Disabilities
References

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There are 17 references in total.
How to Cite
Starling, A. L. P., Lo, Y.-Y., & Rivera, C. J. (2015). Improving Science Scores of Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities through Engineering Problem Solving Activities. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, 10(1), 98-113. https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.266

Winter 2015

Article Information

  • Article Type Articles
  • Submitted December 31, 2014
  • Published February 15, 2015
  • Issue Winter 2015
  • Section Articles
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