The effect of inquiry teaching approach on scientific process skills of students with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

In this study, the effect of the inquiry teaching approach on the scientific process skills of students with intellectual disabilities was examined. The study was completed in the 2019-2020 academic year. In this study, multiple case study design from qualitative research methods was used. The study group consisted of nine middle school students with intellectual disabilities attending a special education class. The study process consisted of pre-tests, implementation of activities, post-tests and generalization practices. In order to collect the data of the study, the scientific process skills inventory developed by Özkan (2015), observation and field notes, and the activity observation form developed by the researcher were used. Data analysis includes the process of analyzing and integrating the data obtained from the pre-test, post-test and observations made during the process of the scientific process skills of students affected by intellectual disability. The pre-test-post-test application of the scientific process skills inventory and all of the activities were videotaped and then observed. During the analysis process, performance differences exhibited by students before, during, and after the implementation of activities were evaluated based on transcriptions of video recordings, and necessary notes were taken. Initially, comparisons were made between students' performance behaviors in pre-test and post-test assessments. Subsequently, the development of students' scientific process skills during the implementation of activities was examined through observations, field notes, student work, and video recordings of the activities. Throughout this coding process, particular attention was given to students' performance behaviors in relevant sections of the activities.Video recordings were transcribed and necessary notes were taken. As a result of the research, it was found that the inquiry teaching approach was effective in the development of observation, estimation and scientific communication skills of students with intellectual disabilities except inference skills. In addition, it was observed that students with intellectual disabilities were able to generalize the science process skills they acquired to different subject areas. As a result, it was seen that the inquiry teaching approach was effective in developing the science process skills of students with intellectual disabilities.