Effective Instruction in Sciencefor Middle School Students

with Behavior Disorders

Paul Mooney, Ph.D.

Louisiana State University

Overview

• Context for science education

• Effective instruction

• Research on interventions in science for students with disabilities, with a focus on students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD)

• What’s next?

Global Academic Context

• IDEA– Access to the general education curriculum– Annual yearly progress

• No Child Left Behind– High stakes testing in science– Highly qualified teacher status– Scientifically based research

Global Context cont.

• Scant research on academics and EBD

• Student characteristics– Reading difficulties– Difficulties in inclusive classrooms– Introductory transition concerns

Global Context cont.

• School factors– Expectation mismatches– Teachers who do not feel qualified– Science and social studies subject matter that

gets overlooked

Science Education Context

• “The terms and circumstances of human existence can be expected to change radically during the next human lifetime. Science, math, and technology will be at the center of that change – causing it, shaping it, responding to it. Therefore, they will be essential to the education of today’s children for tomorrow’s world.”– American Association for the Advancement of Science

(AAAS; 1993), p. xi.

Science Education Context cont.

• “Science for all”– Project 2061 (of AAAS)– National Committee on Science Education Standards

and Assessment (of National Research Council)• Contemporary reform

– More rigorous content– Higher standards– Teaching for deeper understanding

• Inclusion– Ensuring access to and progress in the general

education curriculum

Science Context cont.

• Appropriate instructional adaptations must reflect the approach to instruction being used in the class– Textbook- vs. activities-oriented– Emphasis on inquiry

Why Focus on Science Education?

• Potential to impact change

• Concerned with concepts and knowledge of the physical world around and within us

• Job opportunities

Effective Instruction

• Important evidence supports the incorporation of these principles– Teacher effects literature

• (Ex., Rosenshine, 1997; Rosenshine & Stevens, 1986)

– Curriculum design principles• (Ex., Grossen, Carnine, Romance, & Vitale, 2002)

Teacher Effects

Effective teacher behavior included the following:• Beginning a lesson with a short review of

previous, prerequisite learning.• Beginning a lesson with a short statement of goals.• Presenting new material in small steps, with

student practice following each step.• Giving clear and detailed instructions and

explanations.• Providing a high level of active practice for all

students.

Teacher Effects cont.

• Asking a large number of questions, checked for student understanding, and obtained responses from all students.

• Guiding students during initial practice.• Providing systematic feedback and corrections.• Providing explicit instruction and practice for

seatwork exercises, and where necessary, monitoring students during seatwork.

Curriculum Design

• Characteristics of high-quality educational tools include:– Big ideas, which are the fundamental concepts and

principles that facilitate efficient acquisition of knowledge in a content area.

– Mediated scaffolding, which refers to the personal guidance, assistance, and support that teachers, materials, or tasks provide a learner early in the content learning process.

– Conspicuous strategies, which are a series of steps that proficient learners purposely follow in solving a problem or achieving an outcome.

Curriculum Design cont.

• Characteristics continued:– Strategic integration, which is the combining of essential

information in meaningful ways that results in new and more complex learner understanding of a topic.

– Primed background knowledge, which involves providing learners a brief reminder that acts as a memory trigger and allows the learner to remember what it is that needs to be done in order to solve a task or retrieve pertinent information.

– Judicious review, which involves practice of previously learned information that is sufficient enough so that the learner performs the task or recalls the information without hesitation, distributed over time, cumulative, and varied in such a way that the knowledge is applied to a wide variety of situations and settings.

Effective Practices for EBD

Academic Intervention Researchin EBD

• 60 studies since passage of EHA in 1975• Less than 400 participants• Majority of studies incorporating single-subject

designs• Intervention types

– Teacher– Peer– Child

Intervention Research cont.

• Outcomes positive– Teacher-mediated

• 18 studies, Mean ES = 1.05 (range -0.48 to 3.0)

– Peer-mediated• 7 studies, Mean ES = 1.88 (range -0.60 to 3.0)

– Child-mediated• 22 studies, Mean ES = 1.24 (range -0.46 to 2.73)

Science Research and EBD

• Mnemonics– 7 boys & 1 girl, 7-11 years, ES = 1.30

• (Mastropieri, Emerick, & Scruggs, 1988)

• Test-taking strategies– 34 7th-8th graders, ES = 1.03

Effective Teachingin Textbook-Oriented Classes

• SCREAM

• Graphic organizers

• Semantic feature analysis

• Mnemonics

• Modified text notes

• Strategy instruction

• Group work

Teacher Presentation cont.

• SCREAM variables– A mnemonic for effective teacher behaviors

• Structure

• Clarity

• Redundancy

• Enthusiasm

• Appropriate rate

• Maximized engagement

SCREAM

• Structure– Including overviews, explaining objectives, providing

outlines of lesson materials, indicating transition points, emphasizing critical points, and summarizing and reviewing regularly

• Clarity– Including speaking clearly and directly on point and

providing concrete examples

• Redundancy– Including repeating key elements

SCREAM cont.

• Enthusiasm– Including body movement, gestures, facial

expressiveness, vocal inflections, and openness to student ideas

• Appropriate pace– Generally rapidly, but adjusted based on content and

students’ prior knowledge

• Maximized engagement– Including active participation

Mnemonics

• Mnemonic strategies– Keyword

• Create a concrete, acoustically similar keyword for the unfamiliar word to be learned, something that’s easy to picture

• Make the keyword interact visually with the definition

• Tell the students that when they hear a vocabulary word, think of the keyword and then the picture, and retrieve the definition from the keyword/picture combination

Effective Teachingin Activities-Oriented Classes

• Develop laboratory procedures

• Make participation in desirable activities contingent upon appropriate behavior

• Ensure safety

• Incorporate cooperative learning activities and choose group members carefully

Guided Inquiry

Effective Teachingin Inquiry-Oriented Classes

• Monitor and facilitate student thinking– Student interviews– “Rehearsals”

• Support print literacy– Glossaries– Peer/paraprofessional transcription

• Improve behavior in groups– Teach social skills

Adventure Engineering

• www.adventureengineering.org• Mission is to improve elementary and middle school

student attitudes towards science, math and engineering by developing and offering fun, effective team-oriented curricula. We hope that the Adventure Engineering curricula inspires and builds confidence in students who wouldn't otherwise pursue science and engineering futures.

• Adventure Engineering curricula is being implemented in central Oklahoma public schools with the help of engineering students at the University of Oklahoma and in Denver public schools with the help of engineering students at the Colorado School of Mines.

Adventure Engineering cont.

• Adventure Engineering curricula units require 1-2 weeks of math or science class time. Each unit is scenario-based and filled with inquiry-driven hands-on lessons and activities. Engineering analysis and design are embedded in each unit.

Adventure Engineering cont.

• Lost in the Amazon• Volcano Engineering• Surviving the

Biosphere

• Asteroid Impact• Engineering the

Congo• Water Wonderland

Asteroid Impact

• Imagine that a giant asteroid is headed straight for the earth. Scientists from NASA have discovered that it may hit somewhere in the United States. This asteroid is large enough to cause a world wide winter for a year from the dust cloud that it will create upon impact. The inhabitants of earth have no choice but to move underground for safety. Your class has the incredible responsibility of being on an engineering team that will design underground caverns for the inhabitants of “Bothilian” and submit your results to the governor.

Asteroid Impact cont.

• Premise:– Students will discover, learn and apply mineral and rock properties, rock

identification and classification through use of physical properties. They will also study features and structures of the earth through geological maps, and the effects of natural and cataclysmic events on humans.

– The investigative, exploratory and problem solving nature of Asteroid Impact is closely aligned with Science and Math Standards. Student teams investigate concepts through hands-on experiments and design effective solutions through minds-on, team-based activities. They utilize skills such as reading graphs and maps, applying formulas, and performing unit conversions.

– The Asteroid Impact scenario directly connects these scientific and mathematic concepts to a pseudo real world situation with social consequences geared to excite and enthuse the student’s interest in science, math and engineering.

What’s Next?

• Increase the evidence base.• Improve professional development efforts.• Communicate findings to other school-based

personnel so that the “science minutes” that are allocated aren’t co-opted by other needs that are perceived to be more important.

• Investigate web-based activities and technologies that may allow for greater access to and progress in the general curriculum

What’s Next? cont.

• Identify the “Big Ideas”– Atlas of Science Literacy (2003) of the AAAS– www.project2061.org