| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立屏東大學 === 特殊教育學系碩士班 === 104 === The primary purpose of the study was to explore the learning effects of the activity-based curriculum on Science for students with intellectual disabilities. Participants in this study consisted of five students with intellectual disabilities in self-contained special education classroom of a Southern elementary school. Action Research was conducted in this study in order to develop a proper lesson of a science unit about water concept for students with intellectual disabilities and to explore the difficulties and solving strategies through teaching.
This study utilized interviews, observation, reflective journals and others to collect data. In addition, through interviewed the participants’ homeroom teachers and parents before, during and after teaching in order to understand the impacts of the participants on the activity-based curriculum in the pre- and past-intervention. Observation was used in the classroom during intervention of teaching strategies to collect participants’ learning performance of the activity-based curriculum. Furthermore, not only using unobtrusive measures to analysis past-learning records and learning-sheets of the participants, and also recording reflective journals the researcher. The researcher chose three units of Science including “Dissolve”, “Three states of water” and “Aqueous solution” to adjust teaching goals and combined life experience of the researcher. A functional teaching activity was used to reduce students' learning obstacles.
The results of the study were divided into four aspects of the following description:
1.Curriculum development: the researcher designed an observable and operable teaching goal of curriculum for the participants. Through the process of Action to found the reachable goals are able to distinguish salt is soluble substance, can speak out the impacts of changing three-state water on temperature and understand how to use acid-base of the aqueous solution in life. Also, through teaching activity of three units which were “drinks production", "ice cream production" and "clean-up” to reach above-mentioned goals.
2.Changes of students’ learning: through the activity-based curriculum in water-based science lesson found the students can operate experiments, such as mixing an aqueous solution, observing changes during ice melts, reasoning that sun-dried clothes and water-write on paper are both a phenomenon of water evaporation and recording the observing phenomenon via checking the image of table. Regarding to learning attitude, the researcher found the students’ performance were more positive than before through interviewed their teachers and parents. The students are willing to share or do the science activities at home with their family. In the class, they can cooperative with their classmates to finish experiments and share their life experience.
3.Science learning outcomes: through the activity-based curriculum intervention programs, students with intellectual disabilities can understand the meaning of dissolution, recognizing three-state of water, understanding acid-base of aqueous solutions, and using experimental activities to link science concept with their life experience.
4.The difficulties encountered and solved: the difficulties in the study include the lack of professional ability of special education teachers, time control and huge different ability for students with disabilities to cause their emotional response. Solving strategies including teachers join teachers’ community in science field to enhance the science-related teaching knowledge and ability. Regarding to activity schedule, the more time-consuming experimental activities should be divided two weeks and make good use of teaching strategies, such as multi-sensory teaching, direct teaching France, and using verbal praise, give more positive feedback to increase students learning achievement.
Finally, the results summarize some suggestion and teaching about designing the activity-based curriculum of science lesson for students with intellectual disabilities.
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