Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Learning disabilities--Iowa; Science--Study and teaching (Elementary)--Iowa; Learning disabilities; Science--Study and teaching (Elementary); Iowa;

Abstract

Since the initiation of special resource rooms for learning disabled youngsters several years ago, many special educators have concentrated their instructional routine on the skills of reading and mathematics. A subject area such as science has been viewed as a topic suited more for the regular classroom than the resource room. When science has been moved into the resource room, research shows it has generally been on a tutorial basis, helping the child catch up to other students. This study investigated the amount and quality of science instruction present in elementary learning disability resource rooms. It involved the 53 public elementary resource rooms in Iowa Area Education Agency# 1. The study was conducted during the spring of 1981, with resource room teachers serving as respondents. The study investigated how many minutes per week were being spent in science, what the teachers' views were about science instruction, what science materials were being used, and how aware the teachers were concerning science kits available for use with mildly handicapped students. In addition, statistical analyses were run to examine the relationship between yea.rs of teaching experience, school district enrollments, and selected questions from the study. An analysis of the data collected led to the conclusions that science is often being neglected in resource rooms and both classroom and resource room teachers view it as primarily a tutorial subject. Also, textbooks tend to be the main program being used for science instruction. From the chi-square results, there appears to be no direct relationship between science instruction and either years of teaching experience or district enrollment. The only area which showed any significant difference in the study was the examination of how school district enrollment related to the frequency of tutorial requests from the regular classroom teacher. It appeared from the study that resource room teachers in school districts of less than 5000 pupils were more apt to receive tutorial requests in science than those teachers working in districts of more than 5000 pupils.

Year of Submission

1981

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Education

Department

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

First Advisor

Greg Stefanich

Second Advisor

Mary Nan Aldridge

Third Advisor

W. P. Callahan

Comments

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Date Original

1981

Object Description

1 PDF file (76 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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