The Effect of Active Student Responding during Computer-Assisted Instruction on Social Studies Learning by Students with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

An alternating treatments design with a best treatments phase was used to compare two active student response (ASR) conditions and one on-task (OT) condition on the acquisition and maintenance of social studies facts during computer-assisted instruction. Each week for six weeks, five students were provided daily computer-assisted instruction on 21 unknown facts divided randomly into Clicking-ASR (active responses with computer mouse), Repeating-ASR (active oral responses) or Listening-OT (on task or passive responses). For all five students, Repeating-ASR resulted in more facts correct on same-day, next-day, and one-and two-week maintenance tests. During weeks 7 and 8 with implementation of the best treatment condition, Repeating-ASR produced higher scores than all conditions (including Repeating-ASR) during the first 6 weeks.

Comparison of Repeated and Two Non-Repeated Readings Conditions on Reading Abilities of Students with Emotional and/or Behavioral Disabilities

“…At the forefront is whether repeated readings is more effective than having students read an equal amount of non-repetitive text. These arguments may be valid given that research over the last several decades has consistently found significant positive correlations between the time students spend actively engaged in an academic task or active student responding (ASR) and learning (Sutherland, Alder,& Gunter, 2003;Jerome & Barbetta, 2005;Malanga & Sweeney, 2008;Miller, Hall, & Heward, 1995;Skinner, Belifore, Mace, Williams-Wilson, & Johns, 1997). For example, with respect to reading specifically, Taylor et al (2003) examined 792 students (grades 1-5) in 88 classrooms in nine high-poverty schools.…”

“…An active student response is an observable, measurable student response to an instructional antecedent such as reading aloud, writing an answer to a comprehension question (Barbetta, Heron, & Heward, 1993a;Jerome & Barbetta, 2005). Effective academic instruction in the form of opportunities to respond (OTR) for the students is an indicator for increasing students' academic achievement and improving their classroom behavior (Sutherland et al, 2003).…”

“…Critiques of repeated readings research (Kuhn & Stahl, 2003;Pressley, 2006) have proposed that the fluency developed during repeated reading may have little or nothing to do with repetition of passages but instead occured as a result of students reading more words and/or reading for longer periods of time during repeated readings than the comparison conditions (Kuhn & Stahl, 2003;Therrien, Ojwaya, Wickstom, & Jones, 2008). These arguments may have been valid, given that research over the last several decades had consistently found significant positive correlations between the time students spend actively engaged in an academic task or active student responding (ASR) and learning (Jerome & Barbetta, 2005;Malanga & Sweeney, 2008;Miller, Hall, & Heward, 1995).…”

The Effect of Mobile Technology as an Active Student Response System on the Acquisition of U.S. History Content of Secondary Students with Specific Learning Disabilities

“…Several technology based and non-technology based instructional strategies have been used to increase and sustain the interest of students with and without SLD in history classrooms. These strategies include but are not limited to alternative textbooks (Paxton, 2002), graphic organizers (Bulgren, Deshler, & Lenz, 2007), computerized study guides (Boon, Burke, Fore, & Spencer, 2006;Higgins, Boone, & Lovitt, 1996), multimedia-enhanced projects (Ferretti & Okolo, 1997), the use of mnemonic devices (Mastropieri, Scruggs, & Whedon, 1997), and active student responding (Jerome & Barbetta, 2005). For the remainder of this chapter, social studies instructional strategies involving technology will be the primary focus.…”

“…Jerome and Barbetta (2005) studied the effects of two ASR conditions during CAI on desktop computers. Fifth grade students with SLD were presented with social studies facts using computer-based software.…”