Developing Technology Supported Instructional Activities in a Class of Middle School Students with Intellectual Disability

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to create a class supported by advanced technological tools (e.g. tablet computer, interactive boards) in a special education middle school for students with intellectual disability; conduct technology-based instructional activities; determine the problems likely to emerge in this process and solve these problems; and improve students' competencies in the Science and Technology course. This study, which is an action research, was conducted in three stages: "Determining the Situation", "Implementation"; and "Monitoring". This paper presents the implementation and monitoring stages of the study. The research participants are 11 sixth grade students with mild intellectual disability receiving education at an official special education middle school, their parents, two classroom teachers of the intellectually-disabled, validity committee members, dissertation supervision committee members, and the researcher. The research data were obtained from video-recordings, field notes, the researcher's diary, daily lesson plans, validity committee meeting decisions, decisions taken in the reflection and planning meetings with the teachers, semi-structured interviews, artifacts, criterion-referenced test, check-lists, and official documents. The data obtained during and at the end of the research process were subjected to content analysis via Nvivo 10. The findings indicated that identifying student needs in the integration process, providing and developing electronic contents according to these needs, and planning instruction activities by taking these needs into consideration are important. In addition, the research provided very detailed data concerning the problems likely to be encountered in the integration of technology into a natural teaching environment. It was stressed that the problems encountered during the use of technology in instruction activities may lead to new behavioral problems, and teachers have to take measures against these situations. The integration of technology into the Science and Technology course curriculum improved the students' academic performance. It also contributed to the teachers. The findings were discussed in the light of other studies in the literature, and recommendations were put forward for practice and further studies.