Teaching history facts to learning and behaviorally disordered youngsters: A comparison of two instructional procedures

• Main Author: Madigan, Kathleen Ann
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1993
• Subjects: Special education; Curricula; Teaching; Social studies education; Education; direct instruction; learning disorders; visual displays
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/2939; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3938&context=uop_etds

The call of the recent Regular Education Initiative for special educators to provide support services to regular classroom teachers is echoing loud and clear in core subject areas (e.g., History and Social Studies). Special educators need to know the best methods for instructing learning and behaviorally disordered populations prior to transmitting the information to regular classroom teachers. This study asked questions about the relative effectiveness and efficiency of two instructional procedures: Direct Instruction with visual displays and Direct Instruction without visual displays. These were used to bring about the acquisition, maintenance and generalization of basic historical information for 41 learning and behaviorally handicapped youngsters. Subjects were from 12-15 years of age, I.Q.'s in 80-100 range, and attended special education non-public schools. Thirteen teachers were trained to implement four Direct Instruction lessons about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. Although significant learning occurred, results indicated there were no statistically significant differences in learning as a result of the two approaches. The implications for use or non-use of visual displays in teaching content area material are discussed.