Teaching science to 6th grade students with intellectual disability: 5E teaching model enriched with different methods and techniques

Considering the aspect of the science course that aims to interpret events occurring in students' surroundings and find systematic solutions to these events, the importance of effectively learning science for individuals' lives becomes better understood. It is known that students with mild intellectual disabilities have a slower and disadvantaged learning pace compared to their typically developing peers. Taking into account the differences between these students and typically developing students, it can be said that effective science teaching is based on lesson materials, learning outcomes, and course content tailored to student needs. In this research, action research was used as the method. Action research aims to improve a problematic situation and find solutions to it. To achieve this goal, the study was conducted with three students with mild intellectual disabilities who were enrolled in Şemsettin Fatma Çamoğlu Middle School in Çanakkale during the 2020-2021 academic year. In order to facilitate effective science teaching for the students, a literature review was conducted, and a needs analysis was performed accordingly. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with students, teachers, and parents to determine the needs and prepare lesson plans. Content analysis was used to analyze the interview data. Based on the identified needs, lesson plans were developed, incorporating various teaching methods and techniques under the framework of the 5E instructional model, as well as specialized teaching methods. As per the objectives of the study, various experiments and activities were integrated into the lesson plans to not only facilitate the learning of scientific content by students with mild intellectual disabilities but also to enhance their scientific process skills. Within these content frameworks, different scientific process skills were incorporated. Prior to commencing the study, students were administered the 'Matter and Heat Unit Scientific Process Skills Test' and the 'Matter and Heat Unit Academic Achievement Test' as pre-tests in accordance with expert opinions. After instruction with lesson plans prepared by the researcher, the 'Matter and Heat Unit Scientific Process Skills Test' and the 'Matter and Heat Unit Academic Achievement Test' were administered as post-tests. Additionally, student and researcher perspectives regarding the research process were documented. As a result of the study, an improvement was observed in students' academic achievements and their scientific process skills. Additionally, it was noted that students described their experiences during the research process in positive terms. In light of these findings, it can be concluded that planning and implementing lessons based on the needs identified in the literature and the instructional needs arising from the perspectives of students, parents, and teachers when teaching science to students with mild intellectual disabilities positively contributed to their academic achievements in science and their scientific process skills. Furthermore, it was also determined that students had positive perceptions of the lesson process.