Improving the Historical Knowledge and Writing of Students With or at Risk for Learning Disability

• In Event: 25.063 - Special Education Research SIG Paper Session 5: Interventions for Content Area Instruction

Abstract

In this study, we explored the potential of two forms of discussion (disciplinary vs. traditional) for 39 sixth- and seventh-grade students with or at-risk for LD. Nine teachers delivered instruction in six heterogeneous social studies classrooms. Students who were involved in disciplinary discussions (n = 19) scored statistically higher than their peers who engaged in traditional discussions (n = 20) on measures of historical knowledge (partial eta-squared = .23), and wrote essays with better persuasive quality (partial eta-squared = .43) and greater evidence of historical thinking (partial eta-squared = .40). Delayed posttests delivered 8-weeks after instruction revealed that students in the experimental condition continued to write in more historically sophisticated ways than comparison students (partial eta-squared = .19).

Authors

• Daniel R. Wissinger, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

• Susan De La Paz, University of Maryland