Reading 11 Curricular Design

Teaching the Scientific Method to At-Risk Students and Students with Learning Disabilities Through Concept Anchoring and Explicit Instruction McCleery, J. A., & Tindal, G. A. (1999). Teaching the scientific method to at-risk students and students with learning disabilities through concept anchoring and explicit instruction. Remedial and Special Education, 20, 7-18. Abstracted by Barbara Higgins-Dover In this article, the authors discuss a study comparing science literacy with the lack of scientific understanding among students. The study involves teaching scientific methods to at-risk students and students with disabilities. The content was framed with concepts and principles, and explicit classroom instruction. The results of the study are included using graphs and tables throughout. A discussion of the three components that have been proposed to increase student performance in science are described and include a) knowledge of concepts within content discipline areas, b) application of science process skills and c) use of high-level reasoning within instruction. Concept within Content Discipline Areas: The authors discuss the importance of using concepts that enable students to manipulate information and solve problems. These concepts include clusters of events, dates, names, objects, and places that share defining attributes. Science Process Skills Using Explicit and Rule-Based Instruction: Also described in the article is the purpose of explicit instruction and the rules that provide the learner with a "pictorial" way of understanding information. The three components of this method of instruction include, teaching in small steps; guiding students during initial practice, and providing students with high levels of successful practice. High-Level Reasoning within Instruction: By using high-level reasoning within instruction we can frame and deliver it in a manner that is explicit, structured, and extensive. The authors suggest that by using this strategy we can promote skills that enable students to have greater understandings for academic achievement. Method: Using the three components mentioned above, the study was conducted in an urban school district with approximately 18,000 students. The participants are described, as well as the experimental conditions used including conceptual basis and instructional procedures. Figure 2 and 3 illustrate the scientific experiment form that was used and an explanation of the scoring criteria. Figure 4 illustrates a technique used in the classroom with teacher prompts listed with a discussion of the Pull away group, Period A, and Period B outcome measurements. Reliability: In this section the authors describe the methods used to collect the data as well as the occurrence of task engagement and concept usage. Also described, is the expertise of the data collector and her ability to make judgements about the outcomes. Results: The results are illustrated in Table 1, 2, 3, and 4 using the three observational groups mentioned above. The authors also include several examples of student explanations.