THE CONTRIBUTION OF MATHEMATICS ONLINE GAMES TO QUALITIVE DIFFERENTIATION AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS WITH MILD INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

The purpose of this research is to examine the influence of a special education program, incorporating online digital games, on the understanding of basic mathematical concepts by students with mild intellectual disabilities. The research involved four students (one girl and three boys) with mild intellectual disabilities divided into two groups, an experimental (combined intervention) and a control group (standard intervention). The students' performance was assessed before the intervention program, immediately after the end of the program and two weeks after the completion of the intervention. Based on the results, improved performance was observed in the experimental group’s students, in the areas of intervention, in relation to the students in the control group. The experimental group’s students continued to perform at high standards, contrary to those of the control group. The findings show that the teaching approach integrating online digital games has a positive impact on the understanding of basic mathematical concepts by students with mild intellectual disabilities.  Article visualizations

Intellectual disability in the English teaching and learning process

Throughout the years, the educational system has gone through several changes, giving children the right to be part of the educational system. That is, within the teaching and learning process of the English language, children with different needs can be included, as well as children with intellectual disabilities. The main objective of this research project was to analyze the opinions about the teaching and learning process in a classroom with children with intellectual disabilities (ID) of the Eloy Alfaro Educational Unit during the 2022-2023 school year. A qualitative descriptive methodology was used. In addition, to achieve the research objective, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the English teacher, the child with intellectual disabilities and the mother. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data obtained. The main findings within this study yielded different opinions about the English language teaching-learning process in children with Intellectual Disability (ID); obtaining results about the opinions about the English teaching process in children with ID, categories were presented that make known the learning strategies with the contents related to the student's environment. In addition, the use of specific material for the student with ID as a didactic resource was known, which is adapted to the same content, but at a different level as a type of curricular adaptation, which leads to understand that personalized education allows the student to develop at his own pace and finally the lack of knowledge as an English teacher in children becomes a challenge when teaching. On the other hand, the research findings about intellectual disability in students learning progress show that the student is achieving significant learning at the basic levels in the language. In the same way the difficulty in pronunciation, and the deficiency in writing become limitations of ID students. Consequently, the mother despairs because her daughter does not manage on her own, which is a family challenge. While the desire to learn constantly reflects a good attitude and motivation. Finally, it is identified that the mother's sentimental support and her sister's frequent help are usually the main family support for the girl to develop in an inclusive environment.A lo largo de los años, el sistema educativo ha pasado por diversos cambios, otorgando a los niños el derecho de formar parte del sistema educativo. Es decir, dentro del proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje del idioma ingles se puede incluir niños con diferentes necesidades, así como niños con discapacidad intelectual. Este proyecto de investigación tuvo como principal objetivo analizar las opiniones sobre el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje en un aula con niños con discapacidad intelectual (DI) de la Unidad Educativa Eloy Alfaro durante el curso 2022-2023. Se utilizo una metodología descriptiva cualitativa. Además, para lograr el objetivo de investigación los datos se recopilaron mediante las entrevistas semi - estructuradas a la docente de inglés, la niña con Discapacidad Intelectual y la madre de familia. El análisis temático fue utilizado para el análisis de los datos obtenidos. Los principales hallazgos dentro de este estudio arrojaron diferentes opiniones sobre el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje del idioma inglés en niños con discapacidad intelectual (ID); obteniendo resultados acerca de las opiniones acerca del proceso de enseñanza del inglés en niños con DI, se presentaron categorías que dan a conocer las estrategias de aprendizaje con los contenidos relacionados con el entorno del estudiante. Además, se conoció el uso de material específico para el estudiante con DI como recurso didáctico, el cual se adapta al mismo contenido, pero a diferente nivel como un tipo de adaptación curricular, lo cual lleva a comprender que la educación personalizada permite al alumno desenvolverse a su propio ritmo y finalmente el desconocimiento como profesor de inglés en los niños se convierte en un reto al momento de enseñar. Por otro lado, los resultados de la investigación sobre el progreso de aprendizaje de los estudiantes con discapacidad intelectual muestran que el estudiante está logrando un aprendizaje significativo en los niveles básicos del idioma. De la misma manera, la dificultad en la pronunciación y la deficiencia en la escritura se convierten en limitaciones de los estudiantes ID. En consecuencia, la madre se desespera porque su hija no se desenvuelve sola, lo cual es un reto familiar. Mientras que el deseo de aprender constantemente refleja una buena actitud y motivación. Finalmente, se identifica que el apoyo sentimental de la madre y la ayuda frecuente de su hermana suelen ser el principal apoyo familiar para que la niña se desenvuelva en un ambiente inclusivo

Mathematics education for low-achieving students : Effects of different instructional principles on multiplication learning

This dissertation contains a number of articles reporting on research on instruction for students who have difficulties learning mathematics. The focus lies on the kind of instruction that these students need to adequately master the mathematics skills required by the elementary school curriculum. Recent developments in mathematics education ask for guided instruction. In the study reported on here, the effectiveness of guided instruction for low-achieving students was investigated by conducting an intervention study in schools for regular and special elementary education. The effects of guided instruction were compared to the effects of directed instruction, which was found to be effective in former research. This study showed that guided instruction is almost equally effective as directed instruction. It is therefore concluded that both directed instruction and guided instruction can be effective for teaching multiplication to students with difficulties learning mathematics. In chapter 1, it is described how students normally receive mathematics education and how instruction could be adapted to their specific needs. Chapter 2 reports on a meta-analysis on studies that described the effects of different interventions for elementary school students with math learning difficulties. Interventions that focused on the learning of basic math skills proved to be the most effective. The results also show that directed instruction and self-instruction are more effective than guided instruction. A pilot study has been conducted to investigate the suitability of the intervention program and the testing materials. The results presented in Chapter 3, showed that both interventions were more effective than the regular math curriculum. Furthermore, it was found that guided instruction resulted in higher effects on the students multiplication ability than directed instruction and especially for the students in regular education. The main study is described in the Chapters 4 and 5. A total of 283 students from 24 schools for either special or general education have participated. The group of students was divided into three conditions: guided instruction, directed instruction, and regular instruction (control group). The results show that the students who had received directed instruction improved more than the students who had received guided instruction, although the differences between the two conditions proved to be small. It was also found that both experimental conditions were more effective than the control condition. Furthermore, it was found that the students strategy use improved significantly during the intervention period. The experimental students showed greater improvement than their control peers. The differences between both experimental conditions were nevertheless small. The study described in Chapter 6 was meant to investigate the relation between mathematics learning difficulties and cognition. The results showed that students with math learning difficulties perform on average lower on the PASS (Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive processes) scales than their peers without specific learning difficulties. The results also showed that students with specific math difficulties, such as difficulties with automaticity or with problem solving, have other cognitive profiles than both students without math difficulties and students with general math difficulties

BARRIERS TO THE INCLUSION OF LEARNERS WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENTS: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON ZAMBIA

Teaching learners with hearing impairments in inclusive learning environment require identification and elimination of learning barriers. The current education policy in Zambian, ‘Educating our future’ of 1996 stresses the need to teach learners with disabilities inclusively. Effective inclusion of learners with hearing impairments entails identification of their learning barriers and making the learning environment accommodative. This paper is a literature review of some barriers that learners with hearing impairments experience in learning in inclusive learning environments and some accommodative measures to consider when teaching learners with hearing impairments. In this article we shall first explore the concept of hearing impairment and inclusive education from a historical perspective and thereafter explore the barriers that learners with hearing impairments experience in learning and review some accommodative measures for learners with hearing impairments in inclusive environments.   Keywords: Barriers. Deaf. Hearing Impairment. Inclusive Education. Learner

Teachers Adapting Common Core Informational-text Writing Instruction for Students With Mild to Moderate Disabilities

With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, students must now become skilled at using different types of writing to help them critique text and process information. They also are required to write informational text. Informational-text writing is challenging for students with mild to moderate disabilities, including students with language-learning disabilities, who often struggle with aspects of language necessary for learning to read and write. These students show striking challenges with productivity, grammatical and spelling accuracy, and sentence complexity, with differences in performance by genre (Koutsoftas & Gray, 2012; Scott & Windsor, 2000; Troia, Lin, Cohen, & Monroe, 2011). In order to help students meet the new writing standards, general-education teachers need to reconsider how they adapt writing instruction for students with language-learning disabilities in their classrooms. This qualitative study examined the process of change among three third-grade teachers who participated in an 8-week writing-adaptation innovation. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) (Hall & Hord, 1987; Hall, Wallace, & Dossett, 1973) served as the conceptual framework of the study and was used to examine the process of teacher change. The school\u27s speech and language pathologist (SLP) served as the change facilitator to provide ongoing support and coaching to the three teachers throughout the innovation program. Data were collected through classroom observations, a questionnaire to measure the teachers\u27 level of concerns, and interviews with the teachers and the SLP to understand the process of change and implementation of the innovation program through the CBAM coaching model. Results of this study suggest that with professional development, teachers are able to adapt informational-text writing instruction for students with mild to moderate disabilities. In addition, an instructional coach\u27s effectiveness can be improved with extended training and background knowledge in the innovation

STUDENTS' GENDER, LEARNING STYLE, AND DIFFICULTIES IN SOLVING PROBLEMS IN COLLEGE ALGEBRA

The study was an attempt to determine the students’ level of difficulties encountered in solving problems in college algebra as profiled in their gender and learning style. Difficulties in solving mathematical problems were measured in terms of conceptual and computational difficulties and were classified as to high, average, and low difficulty levels. Two research instruments were prepared: the learning style inventory (LSI) and the diagnostic test (DT) in college algebra. The LSI was adopted from Kolb’s Model of Experiential Learning; while the DT was developed and was validated so as to achieve reliability and validity. A total of 84 students who were enrolled in College Algebra were considered in the study. Results revealed that there is significant relationship that exists between gender and preferred learning style; between gender and level of conceptual difficulty; between learning style and level of conceptual difficulty; and between learning style and computational difficulty. Furthermore, most of the female participants preferred the learning style of being converger; while the male students preferred being accommodator. Male and female students have no significant difference in conceptual difficulties; but male students outperformed female students in computational understanding. On the other hand, scores of assimilators in conceptual understanding is significantly higher than convergers; while convergers have higher computational understanding than assimilators

A Comparison of Two Instructional Sequences in an Intelligent Tutoring Program on Multiplicative Concepts and Problem Solving of Students with Mathematics Difficulties

One of the crucial goals of the National Councils of Teachers Mathematics standards (2000) was to have all students, including students with mathematics difficulties (MD), to succeed in establishing a higher-order thinking in mathematic

In Support of Access and Inclusion: Joint Professional Development for Science and Special Educators

This article addresses the need for collaborative professional development of science and special educators to enhance access and inclusion for students with disabilities and improve science learning for all students. The purpose of the study was to examine changes in the teaching practices of science and special educators, grades 4 to 8, as they jointly completed an intense year-long professional development program designed to promote hands-on, inquiry-based science in their classrooms; expand their instructional repertoires to better serve students with disabilities and other learning problems; and facilitate communication between the groups. Quantitative and qualitative measures, including pre and post ratings of teacher classroom performance, action research projects, and teacher interviews, were used to determine changes in teacher instructional and collaborative practices