Students with Disabilities Benefit from Inquiry-based Science

I wasn’t satisfied with the articles and research I had found on the effects of science-inquiry on students with disabilities, so I furthered my search. Luckily, I came across a very interesting study. The study investigated the effects of science inquiry on students with mild disabilities using differentiated hands-on activities versus direct teacher instruction in inclusive 8th-grade science classes. The full study can be found at the following link:

http://sed.sagepub.com/content/40/3/130.full.pdf+html

To sum up the study’s findings, they found that the students with disabilities that were provided with hands-on, inquiry driven investigations significantly improved their learning of the content material than students in the traditional classroom. Not only did these students retain more information, but the study found that these students performed considerably better later on in the year on standardized tests.