Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Promising strategies that can enhance science achievement for special-needs
students are vocabulary enhancements and text adaptations (Markic & Abels,
2013
), problem-solving, and hands-on activities (Bay, Staver, Bryan, & Hale,
1992
). Scruggs and Mastropieri
s study (
1995
, p. 268) suggests that mildly disabled
students “are very capable of participating in, and benefiting from, inquiry-oriented
science” when it is carefully scaffolded with, e.g., graphic organizers, guiding
questions, multiple ways of presentation, etc., that take the specific learning
needs of the students into account (cp. Courtade et al.,
2010
). These recommenda-
tions are consistent with the demands on the design of general classroom practice
named by the expert groups of the European Commission (Gago et al.,
2004
) and
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; Dumont,
Istance, & Benavides,
2010
). Learning environments should be inquiry based,
context based, student centered, self-directed, adapted to the learner, collaborative,
and interdisciplinary. As these principles are considered to be significant for general
education students
'
successful learning, keeping these conditions is suspected to be
even more important for special-needs students.
Also the so-called Rocard report of the European Commission (
2007
) recom-
mends inquiry-based science education to deal with the diversity in a classroom.
What the recommendations do not tell is how to implement inquiry-based learning
for special-needs students who are not used to that way of learning in science. And
there is especially a lack of research on the topic in chemistry education. Chemistry
is one of the neglected subjects in special-needs education. The additional chal-
lenge is that the students who are emotionally and socially unbalanced easily feel
overwhelmed, frustrated, and angry when they are confronted with unknown
strategies and new structures.
Accordingly, the research question addressed here is: How can inquiry-based
science education successfully be implemented in chemistry-oriented lessons
attended by students with cognitive and emotional/behavior disorders? Success is
indicated by the absence of negative emotions and destructive behavior as well as
by the achievement in topic-related skills. The main purpose of the study was to
explore and better understand how the emotionally sorely afflicted special-needs
students engaged in the newly implemented inquiry-based learning approach.
'
3
Inquiry-Based Learning to Engage Special-Needs
Students
Science education experts have been promoting the inquiry-based approach as it
increases interest in as well as motivation to learn science and facilitates the
engagement of students across the ability range (European Commission,
2007
;
Koballa & Glynn,
2007
). Additionally, more students seem to prefer inquiry-
based learning to traditional instruction (Scruggs, Mastropieri, & Boon,
1998
).
However, there is still a lively debate about how to design learning environments
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